Over 1,000 youths provided with entrepreneurship education in Morogoro

Morogoro. Over 1,000 young entrepreneurs in Morogoro Municipality have been trained in entrepreneurship, financial record-keeping, innovation, and formalising their activities to benefit from interest-free loans provided by councils across the country.

Closing the first phase of the training in Morogoro town, the Her Initiative Project Officer Nusura Myonga said so far, 71 percent of the beneficiaries are young women, while 21 percent are young men who have received entrepreneurship education in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Morogoro regions.

Ms Myonga urged young people to seize opportunities as they come and not overlook them.

She emphasized the importance of addressing unemployment by pursuing entrepreneurship education, which is offered by various organizations, including the Her Initiative through its Going Beyond project.

"The Her Initiative organisation has been collaborating with non-governmental organizations, including the Disability Relief Foundation Tanzania (DEFT), as one of the strategies to provide opportunities for all groups without leaving anyone behind."

"The existence of the Going Beyond project is a result of a study conducted by partner organisations, Dot and the MasterCard Foundation, which found that many young people are involved in business, but the profits they earn are small, and they lack the understanding and skills to communicate effectively with their customers," said Ms Myonga.

Ms Myonga highlighted that many young people lack the skills to effectively use social media to connect with customers and grow the mark

et for their products or services.

The Her Initiative organization has been focusing on reaching youth in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Morogoro regions.

Training beneficiaries; Ms Theopista Juventus and Hassan Saidi, said the project will improve their understanding of entrepreneurial activities related to the products they sell, including vegetables and fruits.

Ms Juventus said that digital entrepreneurship education enables her to join various social media platforms to expand the vegetable business at Mawenzi Market in Morogoro Municipality.

Mr Saidi praised the organization for involving people with disabilities and those with special needs, in receiving entrepreneurship education to tackle the economic challenges they face and interact with different people in the experience sharing.

"This training has been inclusive, as people with disabilities have also been invited to participate. I will benefit from the training for my business of selling baobab fruit, but I also plan to expand into other small-scale entrepreneurial ventures, such as producing liquid soap and other products," said Mr Saidi.

He said there were many opportunities, but many young people were unaware of the systems of starting businesses and accessing youth loans at the local government level, which has hindered them, and eventually found themselves falling into unsuitable groups and losing life direction.

The Morogoro Municipal Officer for the Youth, Ms Jacqueline Mushi stated that it is beneficial for young people to join groups so they can access the interest-free loans provided by various councils across the country.

Mushi said, as a Municipality, they are ready to help young people achieve their goals by connecting them with various training opportunities and loans provided by development partners.

This, she emphasized, is to ensure that youth move away from the notion of relying on formal employment systems, which, in today's world, is not a realistic idea due to the limited job opportunities available.