Skip to main content

Preparing for Competition!

Both Kawangware and Mathare Cohorts 1 are nearing the end of the YE program. Within the next 2 weeks, they will finalize their business plans and present them before the judges. Each girl will have 30 minutes to present. Everyone is understandably feeling a bit nervous, but the YE facilitators are doing their best to help the girls get ready for the Business Plan Competition (BPC)!


In addition to preparing for the BPC, the girls are finishing up their Employability lessons. This week Kawangware covered the topic, “How to Look & Apply for a Job.” The girls acted out a skit of three friends who were looking for jobs. The drama illustrated the most common ways to discover employment opportunities—word of mouth, employment agencies, newspapers, notice boards, the internet and networking. The girls then took some time to write out their own personal networks comprised of parents, siblings, friends, classmates, teachers, etc. who they can resource for job leads.


The lesson concluded with a discussion of the challenges the girls may face when looking for a job. These include a small job market, nepotism, tribalism, gender bias, lack of experience and lack of skills. In addition, they were informed of how to handle situations of exploitation— a further reminder of their worth and value as young women.

 
The lesson in Mathare centered on reviewing the requirements for the BPC. The YE facilitators explained the procedures and expectations for the girls as well as informed them of the official date, time and location. 


In addition, the girls went over how to prepare for an interview. They talked about everything from how to dress cleanly and neatly to how to shake hands with confidence. The phrase “A 1st impression leaves a lasting impression” was even repeated several times for good measure.


An exercise in “Interview Dos & Don’ts” followed. The girls divided into their experiential business groups and role played interviewing each other. At the end of each role play they had the opportunity to critique, highlighting what the interviewee and interviewers did well and what they should remember for the future.


At the end of class, the official “My Business Plan” packets were distributed. Also, a representative from the Centre for Domestic Training and Development (CDTD) visited explaining how the girls could enroll in their program.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Empowering youth for life!

One of Tanari Trust's newest programs is Young Entrepreneurs (YE). Tanari was contracted by Technoserve (www.technoserve.org) to facilitate the once a week business club. Since Tanari specializes in youth empowerment through experiential learning, initiation into the club took place during a weekend of fun at a  residential lifeskills camp.  The club meets in the Kawangware and Mathare slums. There are two cohorts—of approximately 45 girls each—in both slums. The girls range in age from 14-18 years old. The YE program uses a three-part workbook curriculum to teach the basics of business. The main areas of study include entrepreneurship, basic financial education and employability. Throughout the six month program, the girls are divided into entrepreneurial groups and are given a small loan to start their own community businesses. They must create and present a business plan as well as maintain financial records. Common businesses include the sale of snacks and drinks as well as
1 comment
Read more

August to October Journey

Its been a long three months since we had time to write on what we have been doing through impacting lives and also changing lives.So let us tell you the stories as they unfolded during the journey of these three months. Once upon a in August ......... During this month we had Holiday camps and Ni Sisi Camp  In the holiday camps were were privileged to have 16 young boys and girls from Mamlaka hill chapel who had a great time at our Camp i.e "Camp Malta". the teens were taught on servant leadership and as usual had optimum fun and also many lessons they would take home. Club J you rock!!!! Later on in the month we also partnered with Inuka Kenya in their Ni SiSi campaign which was also done at our camp site. The boot camp brought many youth from different slum areas in Nairobi where the word "ni sisi" means "its us" this was to bring cohesion following the post election violence which occurred in the 2007 general elections youth
Post a Comment
Read more

From Entrepreneurship to Employability

This week, the girls of Mathare Cohort 1 received their Employability Training Manuals. This is the last workbook of the three-part YE curriculum. They began right away on Lesson 1: Understanding Employment & Employability. Their first assignment of the morning was to define employment—both formal and informal. The girls then discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each type. The "essentials" of employability were taught at the end of the lesson. These include, but are not limited to, core academics, communication—both verbal & writing, listening, presentation, suitability, flexibility, persuasion, teamwork, leadership, planning & organizing, investigating & problem solving and numeracy. Lesson 2 was also completed. While working through this lesson, the girls identified their career interests. In addition, they had the opportunity to assess their own level of employability through making use of the "Employability Skills Chart" found in t
Post a Comment
Read more