Skills transfer sets young people to entrepreneurship path

Both Juce and Patrick are business partners. They attended the CFIP 5th Promotion Training that took place in January 2019 after receiving support from Children’s Mission Africa (CMA). CMA supports CFIP by providing support in strengthening organization governance for future sustainability of an organization.

They repair refrigerators and Air Conditioners (AC) and at the same time offer training on the same. They started their business in August 2018 with a combined over 10yrs experience in refrigerators and Air Condition (AC) repairs from a company where they both worked. The business is picking up slowly, thou with lots of challenges in the sector as the their line of business is not very frequent.

Jute and Patrick in their workshop which also doubles up as a training area.

Juce, 28yrs now, learnt electricity in college and now able to practice it. He noticed that there were not very many practical training centers especially in Brazzaville and in a few years he would like to have one in every major town in the country. He started with only two students who enrolled after advertising on a banner. Zimoueni Geraud Bamard, is a student in the training Centre and being the first day he is happy of the progress. After the training he would like to work in a company that he can apply his skills. This being a professional training, and with the large demand of this profession, he knows he will get a job with this practical certificate.

During the CFIP training, Patrick realized the importance of keeping records. This has really helped them to have a better financial records including tracking their expenditure. They also learnt how to have better relationship with their clients – and can note that more and more clients are coming back because of how they handle them. One thing that stood out for Juce, from the training, was that his business should be for a long term and importance of sustainability so that he can keep something for his children.

They were also encouraged by the hope to move forward and upwards.They now have a big vision and wants to go far as they now know to analyze the market and project sales including the dynamics . “To meet some running costs, we have an ice cream selling corner that also attracts many clients to their business.” said Patrick during the interview

They would like to expand their business and are targeting to have more students in the next few months. Additionally, they joined a micro-finance where they will soon be eligible for a loan to expand their business further. They look forward to receiving more direct Mentorship for their business from CFIP including regular follow-ups and check ups. Additionally, they would like to receive some financial support and platforms that can make them more visible to attract more.

“When I learnt, I didn’t need to have big money to start my business, I started my cosmetics business immediately!”

“With my income, I pay my children’s school fees, health issues and my personal needs.”

The Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (SLP)

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Skills transfer sets young people to entrepreneurship path