Forming young entrepreneurs in South Sudan
Youth in South Sudan are becoming entrepreneurs thanks to ITC business development trainings
Under its South Sudan Jobs Creation and Trade Development project, ITC is implementing a series of business and entrepreneurship trainings for young people. The project sets out to build business management and entrepreneurship skills of young, grassroot entrepreneurs active in the fruits and vegetable value chains in targeted locations in Central Equatoria and Western Equatoria States.
The trainings will continue through August 2022. As of May, more than 240 youth engaged in fruit and vegetable production and trade have participated in trainings conducted in Juba Na Bari, Jebel Lado, Kator, Kworijik in the Central Equatoria State; and in Nzara and Yambio in the Western Equatoria State. Young women producers and traders accounted for 67% of the youth trained.
The young participants learned the fundamentals of business management techniques, marketing, client relationships as well as entrepreneurship skills.
Diana Francis is one of them. The young trader sells both fruits and vegetables at Masia market in Yambio, Western Equatoria State. She was particularly interested in increasing her knowledge around the “5 Ps” of marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, People and Place, especially on choosing a strategic location to sell her products. She learned that the best place to sell at markets is to have a selling point near the intra-market paths or by the road junctions because many people have easier access to the sellers.
Diana realized that she used to sell her products in a non-strategic location in Masia market and as a result she had a low turn up of customers and could not increase her sales.
Having chosen a more strategic location, she is now doubling her sales, making between USD 30 and 38 per day as opposed to the previous USD 11 and 15 per day.
“I have never attended such business training before which is so unique and practical. So, I have benefited from this training more than anything that could be given to me,” Diana says.
About the project
The International Trade Centre’s ‘South Sudan–Jobs Creation and Trade Development’ project aims to increase the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and employment opportunities for the South Sudanese population engaged in the fruit and vegetable subsector.
The European Union-funded project contributes to addressing the value addition, competitiveness, job creation and trade development challenges of South Sudan. Specifically, the interventions of the project are expected to improve productive capacities and compliance to standards for MSMEs, increase market linkages for MSMEs and enhance employability and entrepreneurship capacity for the South Sudanese labour force, focussing on youth and women.
