So You Want To Start A Business?

A workshop was held at Luderitz Youth Centre for members of the community who are interested in starting a business. It was a two day work shop run by visiting youth volunteers from Mariental, Lindsay McAuley, a Peace Corp volunteer and Beata Negumbo,who is the rural development officer from the Ministry of Youth, and Padraic Gerety from Luderitz.
There were eighteen participants ranging in age from Grade 12 leavers to adults with small businesses already set up. Many aspects of setting up a business were discussed such as plans of action, long term goals and motivation. Each goal was analysed to see if it was S.M.A.R.T- specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
The motivation for wanting to start a business or for branching out an existing one was mainly to gain independence and improve their standard of living. The benefits of working hard and succeeding at a job were also discussed, and the participants seemed very certain about their future plans and how they were going to achieve them.
The workshop was fairly informal, with a lot of group discussions and personal goals shared, but this method seemed the most productive judging by the lovely speech given by a participant at the end. The leaders were graciously thanked and informed that they had taught very successfully.
Scorpion Zinc donated funds to cover the catering costs, and the Ministry of Youth would like to publicly thank them for all the help they have given this year.•