Empowering communities through entrepreneurship and community-led development
The Zambian Governance Foundation (ZGF) and Swalisano Advisory have joined forces to foster community-driven entrepreneurship. This visionary collaboration aims to equip ZGF staff with the tools and expertise to become champions of entrepreneurship for community-led development (CLD). Through an intensive 4-day capacity-building adventure, the ZGF staff embarked on a transformative journey that promises to shape the future of grassroots innovation in entrepreneurship and CLD in Zambia.
Interviewing ZGF staff members who participated in the entrepreneurship training, we gained valuable insights into their motivations, the skills they acquired, and their plans for implementing what they learned in their work with communities.
Derwin Chali,Environment & Natural Resource Management Specialist: Motivated by the need to support entrepreneurship in partner communities, Derwin sought to learn how to facilitate entrepreneurship training effectively. His most valuable takeaways were pre-business startup knowledge, including understanding demand matrices and marketing strategies. He plans to guide communities in business ideation and become more entrepreneurial to offer better advice based on experience.
Angela Bobo Lungu, Community Engagement Specialist: Angela’s interest in exploring the link between entrepreneurship and community development fueled her attendance. The training provided her diverse skills, including entrepreneurship concepts, financial management, sales and marketing, and monitoring and evaluation. Angela aims to implement these concepts to establish sustainable community foundations through entrepreneurship.
Hussein Mbuso Lunat, ICT Specialist: Hussein was drawn to the training’s comprehensive curriculum and hands-on approach. He gained valuable skills in understanding and facilitating different personalities, as well as business planning and marketing strategies. Hussein believes that entrepreneurship training empowers individuals to contribute positively to their communities, fostering innovation and social impact. He plans to apply this knowledge through a community-oriented approach, understanding specific needs and challenges to find entrepreneurial solutions.
John Chansa, Programme Assistant: John’s motivation for attending the training stemmed from a lack of knowledge in entrepreneurship. Through the training, he learned about the application of Kolb’s cycle and matrix and business plan models. John believes that by providing entrepreneurship activities in communities, he can help them prioritise their different business ventures.
This collaboration between ZGF and Swalisano Advisory marks the birth of change, promising to uplift communities through entrepreneurship and community-led development initiatives. By equipping ZGF staff with these vital skills and knowledge, they are ready to roll out their newfound expertise and drive economic growth and social impact at the grassroots level in Zambia.
If you want to learn more about Entrepreneurship and Community-led development, please email us at zgf@zgf.org.zm.