Barclays empowers young entrepreneurs on Praslin and La Digue |27 November 2015

As part of its Citizenship agenda – which is finding ways to give back to the communities in which its operates, Barclays invested R150, 000 in the ‘Empowering Young Entrepreneurs’ project which was implemented by the Seychelles Association of Women Entrepreneurs (SAWE). This was in September 2014 and specifically targeted young entrepreneurs based on the islands of Praslin and La Digue.
 
The main aim of the one-year project was to empower aspiring entrepreneurs, honing their financial literacy, entrepreneurial & marketing skills via business management training and mentoring sessions.

This was achieved through delivery of the Business Development & Management Course, which encompassed 3 modules, namely business psychology, marketing and business management.

Over the past six months the participants attended weekly sessions facilitated by local consultant, Peter Roselie.  The sessions addressed the following needs:

•    Start -Ups: To assist participants with a business idea and who wished to start their own enterprise

•    To assist existing entrepreneurs who wanted to deepen their knowledge on how to better manage their business

•    To help existing entrepreneurs with one or two businesses, who wanted to expand.

On November 7 of this year, a graduation ceremony was held at the Chateaux St Cloud for the 22 participants who successfully completed the programme.

One of the participants, Monica Figaro, expressed her joy at being able to complete the programme.

“The sessions were incredibly informative and interesting. We learned a lot of new things in respect to business management. One such example which I thought was fascinating was the ‘DNA mapping’ session where we learned relationship management between ourselves and our customers. We also learned how to negotiate and how to keep our business attractive. The good thing is that we received actual examples of successful businesses which helped us understand how to implement what we have learned when running our businesses,” she said.

Speaking after the event, Mr Roselie said, “One of the key outcomes of the programme is the networking. When we started the sessions, most participants had a ‘to each his own’ attitude. However, half way through, everyone was pitching in and helping each other out. In fact, there is one business lady who owns a guesthouse helping out a neighbouring guesthouse with its guestbook among other things. Such networking and solidarity was also shown on graduation day itself where I learned that participants from La Digue had in fact created and sewn clothes for some Praslin participants. It makes me proud to sit back and watch all the hard work invested into the project manifest before my very eyes.”

Commenting on the initiative as a whole, Colleen Morel, head of Citizenship at Barclays said: “We are proud to have made a difference to the young entrepreneurs on Praslin and La Digue. This was made possible via collaboration with our NGO partner, SAWE and local expert, Mr Roselie. The success of this project also reflects the determination and creativity of the youth who have demonstrated solidarity and the willingness to assist each other. Their initiative and efforts are commendable.”