One of the latest projects of the MeleyaFoundation is the development of a Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Addis Ababa. Last month we made some major progress, so it’s time for an update.
From 25 to 29 January, a training was offered for people who are going to support 45 young aspiring entrepreneurs who would like to set up their own business in Ethiopia. The training was a huge success since the initially planned 4 contestants turned out to be 9 professionals. The training was offered by MeleyaFoundation in cooperation with St Mary’s University College (SMUC) in the location of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Bole Road - Addis Ababa.
The training
The motto if the training, given by RaoulChong, was “Translating Ideas to Concrete Business”. The five days of training were all about enable the 9 attentding professionals to train and coach entrepreneurial coaches, to translate ideas into business plans and to coach young entrepreneurs. This entrepreneurs were winners of the ‘Meleya Business Competition Awards’ who were organized last November. The 3 aspiring entrepreneurs, all SMUC Alumni, are Efrem (Tourism), Awel (Advertisment) and Adhenet (Honey). They’re introduced in this video. Trainer RaoulChong, finance professional, business advisor and ToTtrainer, worked with the team of 9 education professionals for 5 days:
Day 1: Introduction and planning for the next 5 days
Day 2: Process of coaching, toolkit, local issues
Day 3: Entrepreneurs pitch, interview and feedback
Day 4: Coaching 101 (7 trainees) –in parallel the team worked to develop a business idea into pitch and business plan
Day 5: coaching 101(2 trainees), real case and round-up with trainers certification.
The Centre
The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is still in progress, but with ambitious plans for the future. As a Business Development Center, main tasks are supporting and coaching entrepreneurs, consultancy service, training of trainers for entrepreneurial coaches, project management trainings and organizing and promoting events. Support from local and international institutions is contributing to the success of the centre. The centre has access to local and international consultants and experts, to a strong business network in Ethiopia and Holland and to institutions and resources. Also strategic partnership with different institutions and businesses in a diverse range of sectors is a major strength of the centre.
Major stakeholders
Funding and Support
Pilot project financed by Oxfam Novib
International Organization for Migration supports the project through the TRQN program(Temporary Return for Qualified Nationals).
