The
Gambia chapter of the Global Youth Innovation Network(GYIN) in partnership with
the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) on Tuesday began a three-month extensive
youth mentorship programme on entrepreneurship at the Jenoi Agricultural
farmers training centre in LRR.
This
comes a day after a successful national youth summer camp on entrepreneurship,
leadership and information technology ELIT 2017.
The
mentorship programme aims to enhance the capacity of 25 youth entrepreneurs by
providing mentoring services on specific thematic issues.
According
to them, this would serve as foundation for entrepreneurship spirit and its
sustenance as well as to facilitate the process of individual business
formalisation, networking and possible strategic leadership provision with a
view to helping and supporting young people to establish sustainable
investments.
According
to the project manager of GYIN Gambia, Ebrima Bah, his organisation since its
exception has successfully trained over 192 youths across the country on
various skills from entrepreneurship, leadership and IT.
“So
we designed this programme to help them, to coach them, and create mentorship
for them to be able to implement what they have learned. Some of them have
already established their own ventures, those who had business ventures due to
our earlier trainings are now thinking of how to expand on their ventures,” he
said.
Bah
expressed optimism that the mentorship programme would help young entrepreneurs
become successful and self-reliant investors as they have already developed a
mentorship hand book which explains the methodology to employ in implementing
the programme.
“We
think that with the right advice and right mentorship tools given to our
trainees in various components, it will offer them a chance of greater success
from where they are and where they wish to be,” Bah remarked.
A
senior education officer from the Regional Education Directorate in LRR, Musa
Bah, commended GYIN Gambia for their efforts in championing youth empowerment
and development in the country.
He
said the youth are the cream of the nation constituting about 63.7 % of the
population and therefore, deserve all the necessary support and guidance in
becoming responsible members and ambassadors of the society and the country at
large.
He
advised the participants to take the mentorship programme seriously, saying all
entrepreneurs have something in common; passion and love and urged them to
redouble their efforts, willingness and dedication during the course of the
3-month mentorship.
