May 08, 2018 - UNDP South Sudan conducted two Entrepreneurship Training Workshops (ETW) for participants from Gbudue state´s medium, small and micro enterprises (SMEs), from April 16 – 30, 2018 in Yambio town. The ETW helped entrepreneurs to put their idea into action, bring an attitudinal change and build their personal entrepreneurial skills.

It is the first to be held in Yambio based on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) entrepreneurship training approach, known as EMPRETEC. This is an integrated capacity-building programme which help promising entrepreneurs build innovative and locally competitive SMEs. The programme also encourages mutually beneficial business linkages among SMEs; as a result, it contributes to the development of a dynamic private sector and an open entrepreneurial culture.

A workshop to assess your business potential

The workshop in Yambio drew 80 participants among them women and young men operating in food processing, handicrafts, agriculture, boda-boda riding, poultry husbandry, services among other initiatives and was conducted by Master Trainers from EMPRETEC Mauritius.

The workshop provided participants with a complete assessment of their entrepreneurial potential and strengthened their ability to identify and exploit business opportunities. It also helped them initiate and sustain business decisions in the face of adversity and prepare business plans for assessment by the banking community.

Significant number of businesses in South Sudan are micro or SMEs operating in the informal sector. UNCTAD´s EMPRETEC programme comes at a time when South Sudan is reeling from high youth unemployment and sluggish business growth, against a background of high inflation. The country´s private sector, as a result, has suffered as there are no promising opportunities created by the economy.

“We are now burning with business ideas, we don’t sleep at night”

The workshop ended on 30 April 2018 with a ceremony attended by UNDP, representatives of development community present in Yambio, State functionaries and graced by the acting Governor and state Minister of Information.

In his closing remarks, the acting governor underscored the importance attached to the training to correct customer care deficiencies that affect the growth of small scale business: “Customer is the boss’’. The state government will “lobby existing banks and micro-finance institutions to provide loans to trained entrepreneurs”.  He revealed that his state is committed to support entrepreneurs, is appreciative of the training and will be available to give support through the State Chamber of commerce and municipality.

The trainees also registered their appreciation of the training; one representative of training participants said that: “We are honored to have been selected and we have benefited enormously from the training and are more innovative. The skills we have acquired is better than money. We need more of this training at the county and payam levels so that other interested youth also benefit from these skills. We are now burning with business ideas, we don’t sleep at night”.

More info about UNDP South Sudan’s Human Development & Inclusive Growth (HDIG) unit here: http://www.ss.undp.org/content/south_sudan/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html