Capacity Building for Young Entrepreneurs

First of all, I would like to thank you for supporting this project! With your help we managed to reach our “End of Year Campaign” target and earned a fantastic £1,000 bonus from GlobalGiving. We could not have done it without you! Secondly, we have just returned from Senegal with brand new photographs and uplifting updates from our young entrepreneurs as well as some breaking news to share with you! We are very proud to announce that Babacar & Adja managed to secure government funded placements for the “Certificate of Professional Competence” following highly competitive entrance examinations. This 2 year secondary level course was recently introduced at the CIPA Training Centre, where they did their 10-month course. This is an amazing achievement and opens the door to new opportunities we had not even imagined possible when we launched this project.

Meanwhile the remaining 13 young entrepreneurs have been hard at work and are currently selling lettuce (fast to grow and always in demand) while planting their onion seedlings, which will be their main crop this season. Until recently they had struggled with water supply issues and unwelcome visits of some very acrobatic goats that wander the university grounds. As a result their first crops of okra and watermelons, however promising, did not yield the return they had hoped for. With the support of our project manager both issues have now been resolved: with a large water basin and electric pump now fully functional, and greenhouse covers, generously donated by the GDS (the most important export horticulture company in Senegal) and used to strengthen the fence and keep unwanted visitors at bay. Our project manager is currently training the members of the cooperative in charge of finance to manage money matters in a smooth and efficient manner. On a technical level, they have received weekly guidance from their former trainer, but recently also benefitted from support from the manager of the university farm. As a young agronomist with a flair for business, he has turned out to be a great role model with both technical and business savvy advice.

The prospects for the onion harvest are looking very good and the profits should allow the cooperative not only to make its first loan repayment and cover the cost of the next crops, but also to start saving and share some of the profit. Still, the young entrepreneurs will continue to need targeted capacity building and supervision to make the cooperative a real success. To guarantee this support for the duration of the 2-year project however we still need to raise a further £7,567. We would therefore be extremely grateful for your continued support to this project, and for spreading the word amongst your friends & family. With warm wishes.