A section of women who are alumni of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) since 2015 expressed their appreciation to the German Development agency GIZ (E4D programme) for the business skills received during the 8(eight) days training.
The training which is in 3(three) different cohorts under the Women Entrepreneurship for Africa” (WE4A) programme was facilitated by business development experts from Solid Rock Life and Business at their premises in Kampala.
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The WE4A programme is a partnership jointly supported by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic cooperation and Development (BMZ) implemented by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the German Development agency GIZ (E4D programme) and SAFEEM.
The participants, some of whom attended online, hail from different parts of Uganda including Kampala, Masaka, Wakiso, Soroti, Mukono, Mpigi, Mbarara, Yumbe among others, confirmed the usefulness of the training when it comes to addressing many of the challenges they face in their businesses; these include Human Resource Management, records keeping, and financial management among others.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) alumni hub leader in Uganda Ms. Faith Kwera, noted that as a beneficiary of the TEEP in her business of Information System Technology that deals in Quera tickets, has sharpened her understanding of several business skills, especially in finance management, planning and Human resource systems.
She added that these skills were going to help her maximize profits and grow her business.
“The capacity building intervention will go a long way in helping me to execute growth patterns for my company” she said
Ms. Nagawa Milly Phoebe, a woman leader and an agricultural entrepreneur from Masaka specializing in vegetables and fruits said that the training has opened her eyes to various business management areas which she pledged to implement in her business as well as transfer to fellow women back home in order to improve their businesses.
She particularly said that she was happy with the skills acquired especially: -setting goals, pricing of products, and human resource management.
“After the training, I have discovered many gaps that were in my business; I can now respect my human resources better than before. I didn’t know that as a business owner I deserve to be paid a salary. As a women leader, I will transfer the ideas from the training to benefit other women in Masaka, I thank TEF and GIZ for the support” said Ms. Nagawa whose eloquence is mainly in vernacular.
Mr. Francis Mwanika a Corporate Development and training expert, noted that the objective of the training was to equip TEEP alumni women-led enterprises from across the country with skills on how to improve their businesses.
He further noted that the training had attracted TEEP alumni women business leaders from diverse parts of the country and was jam-packed with topics ranging from the business environment, pricing, Costing, strategic planning, Vision, Mission, and objectives setting to marketing among others.
Notably, the topics were selected based on the feedback from the participants hinging on the areas in which they had the biggest challenges which in turn helped to tailor the training to the participants’ needs and aspirations.
“A training needs assessment.” Says Mr. Mwanika “Analysis was done before the training so as to ensure content was tailored and customized to addresses the challenges of the various targeted entrepreneurs”
Ms. Akello Stella who owns a fashion enterprise, ‘Akello Estela Fashions’, in Soroti specializing in women clothing also with great enthusiasm observed that the training had helped her to interact with other business leaders, taught her how to mitigate risks in business and how to position herself for growth.
TEF is an African non-profit organization founded in 2010 by Tony O. Elumelu and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. It is a pioneer member of the Global Impact Investment Rating System. So far, the Foundation has empowered 7,520 African entrepreneurs across 54 African countries.
