IYF Rolls Out Youth Entrepreneurship Training Across Africa & the Middle East
Read All PostsIn August, four countries joined a growing list of nations where the innovative Build Your Business (BYB) initiative will begin to empower youth to enter the world of entrepreneurship. The International Youth Foundation (IYF) began training classroom facilitators last month in Jordan, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda to effectively instruct young people to launch their own microenterprises.
Developed in partnership with Microsoft in 2010, the BYB curriculum provides youth ages 16 to 35 with training on the fundamental aspects of entrepreneurship. The four new participating countries join nine others in Africa and the Middle East where the program is already proving to be a valuable instructional tool. Since April of 2013, BYB has trained more than 140 facilitators from over 76 organizations in Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, and Tunisia. The training is also expected to be rolled out to Botswana, Kuwait, and Morocco later this year.
Twenty-seven year old Richard Mpagi, an intern with the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Youth Affairs who has tried starting his own microenterprises, says he relies on the BYB curriculum as a business dictionary. “I am already considering starting a new business using BYB ideas,” says Mpagi.
Taught over a period of 70 instructional hours, BYB offers a hands-on, interactive approach to learning. Real life learning activities and in-person instruction by IYF-trained facilitators strengthen the skills developed through online or DVD-ROM modules that include games and videos. The training includes a skills and interest assessment as well as lessons in business planning, budgeting, accounting, and workforce development. The program is adapted to suit each local environment and is available in English, French, and Arabic.
“BYB is a great initiative because it gives hope to those who have been hopeless from the lack of opportunities in Uganda,” says Gerald Karuhanga, Youth Member of Parliament, Western Region. “We want all Ugandan youth to participate in BYB so they can acquire and utilize business skills necessary to improve their own livelihoods and contribute to overall economic growth.”