Introduction

Somali Youth Volunteers Association (SOYVA) conducted Entrepreneurship and Vocational Skills training courses for youths in South West State of Somalia.The social enterprise and venture creation efforts as a livelihood intervention targeted 50 young men and women (25 males and 25 females) which were taken through orientations and trainings on life-skills, business plan development, vocational and business training in sectors with high demand for entrepreneurial venture creation, strategies for generation of innovative business ideas and eventually transforming them in to startups.

The training was held at Haldoor Hotel in Baidoa with the participants drawn from young men and women from diverse background. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions during the training and captures recommendation put forth by the participants and SOYVA team.

Background

Youth in Somalia were trapped in decades of civil strife without an effective central government. The collapse of central government had negatively impacted youthful generation through multiple social, economic and political exclusions. These exclusions limited the capabilities and opportunities of youth in the contributing to peacebuilding and development. It also inhibited the natural energy and enthusiasm of youth, and systematically hindered their potential for positive advancement. Majority of young population were left without quality education and ended up in violent extremism. Young women were married off in tender ages and become house wives without any sources of income. Others were forced to take up traditional occupations due to entrenched traditional gender roles which translated into huge number of unemployed young people who otherwise could have attended schools and acquire skills and education that could raise their future productivity and potential earnings.

Objectives of the Workshops

• To equip young men and women with technical and vocational skills to take advantage of emerging opportunities in entrepreneurial venture creation and create awareness on the sectors with high demand for skills in South West State (Baidoa) such as construction, agriculture (agro-processing and fishing) and automobile/electronic repairs
• To link young men and women to emerging sectors such as mobile phone repairs through linkage with the private sector and networking with successful entrepreneurs in Baidoa.
• To provide mentorship for Youth ‘start-ups’
• To train and encourage young men and women to form Voluntary savings and loaning associations VSLAs for networking and capital mobilization.

Methodology:

The training sessions were conducted in local dialect to enhance effective understanding of key concept pertaining to the youth, women’s groups; business groups in entrepreneurship and vocational skills that enhance the development of youth in southwest state. The sessions were delivered using different mediums of learning such as PowerPoint presentations, video presentation, group discussions, flip charts, scenario storytelling as well as questions and answers.

Each presentation consisted of a PowerPoint presentation with pictorials followed by focused group discussions and follow up questions from the facilitators for clarification of key issues with the aim of creating a lasting image in the minds of the participants for future reference. The facilitators and the mentors also did every day of the training an overall overview of the previous sessions as a means of gauging the participants on the acquired knowledge and internalizations of skills learnt.

The training sessions and activities

Session 1: The session provided an overview of the training course. Mr.Abdirahman who is the facilitator took the participants through the expectations and the course content that covered Entrepreneurship training, formation of voluntary savings and Loaning Association, financial literacy and accounting skills as well as linkage to private sector, mentorship and business coaching.

Session 2:    This session aimed at explaining the entrepreneurship skills needed to start and grow a business. These skills included:

• Financial literacy (how to manage money and the use of financial services, such as savings and credit),
• Behavioral and life skills (communication, goal setting and achievement, decision making, etc.), and
• Business skills (market research, budgeting,).
• Start-up/expansion process-in particular by preparing them to develop business plans and apply grants

Mrs. Saida who is a trainer took the participants through various entrepreneurial concepts pertaining to the knowledge, skills and attitudes in entrepreneurships skills to develop positive outlook towards self-employment, creating, organizing, and owning a business and becoming successful entrepreneurs.

The participants were also coached in business skills such as doing business overview, business planning, market research, capital mobilization, business Financials, advertising and Marketing, operations and quality assurance, legal affairs and taxation for business development services to the entrepreneurs.

The participants were also provided with skills on small business/enterprise management through the enrichment of technical entrepreneurial skills such as financial- literacy, business ethics, marketing strategy, human resources, communication, innovation, customer cares, market identification, customer segments, sales & distribution strategies, sustainable competitive advantage and positioning.

Session 3: This session delved on basic understanding of Voluntary savings and Loaning Association, the aspects of VSLAs, the process and structure of working together, advantages of working as a group and the benefits of the VSLA to the society and participants.

Mrs.Saida who is a facilitator clarified that VSLAs are group of people who meet regularly to save together and take small loans from those savings. She added that this is a powerful tool for young people to utilize in the wake of insufficient capital from other sources to start a business with sole aim of breaking away from poverty cycle and pull resources together for economic prosperity.

Mrs. Saida took the participants through various advantages of VSLAs that included:

• Mutual support
• Sharing of ideas and risks
• Bringing different skills and expertise to achieve a common goal
• Mobilization of financial resources
• Access to finance earmarked for groups
• As a group you have a voice in the community
• Opportunity to exploit your God-given talents
• Opportunity to deal with social and economic issues affecting members

This session also covered the process and structure of VSLAs working together. the participants were taken through various process and structures that included:

• Group Leadership: Group leadership is on a rotational basis. Each member is encouraged to moderate the weekly meetings on a rotational basis
• Group saving: Groups are encouraged to save money together on a regular basis. By saving together group members pool financial resources together that can be used for their own development and supporting business start-
• Mutual trust: As the group work together, they develop mutual trust which is critical for their bonding and focus on the same objectives.
• Maintaining a record book: Successful groups maintain records and minutes of their meetings. This assists the groups to keep information on key agreements and financial transactions. The minute book is signed by all at the end of the meeting to confirm that it is a true record of the meeting
• Regular two way communication: Good communication will keep your group motivated and involved. The group should agree on how they will communicate with each other
• Participation of all: Work for group activities needs to be shared by all. If only a few people are involved in the work, it can lead to burn out. Involvement builds ownership.
• Ability to deal with conflict: conflict is normal in a group. It is important that the group has clear rules and processes of dealing with group conflict. All conflict that arises should be dealt with as it arises and key lessons noted

Session 4: This session aimed at explaining the principles of financial literacy and accounting skills.

The facilitators demonstrated to the participants the significance of possessing the knowledge of financial literacy and accounting skills for entrepreneurs and small business enterprises. The facilitators explained in detail the pre-requisite financial documents needed in operating a business enterprise and the required knowledge in utilizing these vital documents.

The participants gained the skills and the knowledge on various financial documents like the usage of receipt books, cash books, payment vouchers, invoice and ledger.

The facilitators highlighted the importance of keeping these financial documents by the entrepreneurs and pointed out a number of reasons as follows:

• To determine cost
• To effectively plan
• Controls business operations
• Evaluation of business activities
• Measure profitability of products
• For strategic and actual decision making
• External reporting through financial statements

In addition, the facilitators demonstrated the usage of the financial documents and as an example, the use of ledger was illustrated as follows:

DR .                                                                                                                                         CR.

Session 5:

This session was aimed at creating linkage to private sector and providing mentorship as well as business coaching.

SOYVA had beforehand invited lead entrepreneurs in the areas of wood works, metal works, agro-processing and fishing, mobile phone repairs, beauty shops, saloons and tailoring in Baidoa to network and share experience with the youth participants.

The session provided opportunity for the young people to get insights from these entrepreneurs who are already doing well and elicited interest for the various filed among different group of youths.

A total of 25 young people were particularly linked with the entrepreneurs and an opportunity for apprenticeship was afforded to them to gain practical skills and first-hand experience on how their business of interest is operated.

This linkage will in a period of 2 months provide adequate orientation, mentoring and skill development to the young people.It will also provide a platform for absorption of the young people in the specific industries as skilled laborers or most importantly inspire them to start, sustain and grow their business ..

Lesson learnt:

• The participants gained knowledge and innovative skills on how to venture into a successful start-ups and business enterprise.
• The participants become aware of entrepreneurship culture and the opportunities that exist within their environment.
• The participants learned that the financial literacy and accounting skills are critical to the business growth, accountability and records for future references.
• The training boosted the critical thinking and problems solving skills for the young entrepreneurs through group discussions and sharing of business ideas and solutions.
• The participants learned team work and cooperation in matters of formation of start-ups, VSLAs and cooperating with private sectors for the purpose of gaining practical skills
• The training provided confidence among the participants through mentorship and success story telling and thus instilled positive attitudes towards creating self-employment, time and resource management.
• The session of linkage to entrepreneurs and practical skills acquisition elicited more interest among the young people and is key to inspiring venture start up among youths

Recommendations

• The participants highlighted the significance of more capacity building sessions for the youth to boost their knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship, vocational and VSLA
• The participant members also requested for more training courses, mentorship and coaching on entrepreneurship, beauty and saloon, constructions, bee keeping, poultry

farming, auto-mechanic, electric, hospitality, plumbing and other vocational skill for development of youths in south West State of Somalia.

• Easy access to start-up grants and microcredits for entrepreneurial
• Promoting of employment programmes focusing on skilled and unskilled labours for the Southwest State of Somalia
• Focusing on traditional labour-intensive sectors (agribusiness, fisheries) and innovative promising sectors (renewable energies, services in urban areas)
• Promoting a national exhibition between governmental institutions, educational actors and public/private sector players to align youth’s skills on the reality of the market.

3.  ​Recommendation for SOYVA and Partners

• SOYVA could champion to promote Youth livelihood and create a stronger enabling environment for youth business
• SOYVA can engage with the growing number of local stakeholders that form an inclusive business support ecosystem to support youth Stakeholders such as development agencies, local banks, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and research institutions.
• SOYVA could promote development partners to cooperate and support SOYVA in providing funding for an inclusive livelihood support program to achieve collective impacts in communities of South west sate. This could include funding for the development of business plans to promote youth business for a SOYVA youth Business Awards, seminars and conferences, inclusive business-related knowledge work, and strategic advice on youth business.
• Creating awards- This would be helpful for social enterprises and youth owned enterprises to reach out to more potential customers and communities
• Taking advantage of media: SOYVA can help youth enterprises to take advantage and be more active s in sharing their stories through various channels (online platforms, local newspapers, TV, podcast, messages, etc.) to help improve their coverage and reach out to more potential clients and communities.
• Partnership: SOYVA would take a leading role in exploring and establishing partnerships for youth enterprises to harness possible advantages brought about during the partnership, such as an increase in awareness, collaboration, and cooperation. Networking and partnership among youth enterprises can also help them learn from each other and develop their business.