Entrepreneurship Training at Milola Secondary School

To improve quality of education and promote youth entrepreneurship in rural Tanzania, the Tanzania Partnership Program partnered with local business owners and the Lindi Municipal District to conduct a series of entrepreneurial trainings for students and teachers at Milola Secondary School. The trainings focused on equipping participants with tangible business and entrepreneurial skills and linking prospective entrepreneurs with successful practicing entrepreneurs from Lindi urban and the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO), the responsible governmental agency for business support services. They were organized in response to a request from the students to learn more about entrepreneurship as a career option and the teachers’ interest in deepening their subject matter knowledge in entrepreneurship. 

The first session in October was facilitated by Dr. Winnie Nguni, Coordinator of Entrepreneurship at the Directorate of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Dar es Salaam and Dr. Emiliana Mwita, the lead faculty for TPP’s Community Education, Economic Development, and Youth Empowerment thematic focus. Participants were trained on how to prepare business plans, budgeting, financial management, networking, and marketing of products. The second session in December 2022, included hands-on demonstrations by successful women and men entrepreneurs on batik making, cookery, event planning, poultry keeping, jewellery and soap making, make-up and hairdressing, and henna. Some students also showcased their product ideas and practiced selling their products at a local market. 

The training was graced by the District Commissioner (DC) of Lindi Municipality, Mr. Shaibu Ndemanga. In addressing the students, the DC encouraged them to register their business to enable them access financial support from the municipal government. He tasked the department of community development to support the students to register their groups and link them to SIDO for further training and mentorship. Mr. Shaibu Ndemanga also reminded the TPP team of the Tanzanian government’s commitment to promote entrepreneurship skills development in schools and urged TPP to document its training model to facilitate replication in other schools in the municipality and across Tanzania. The radio journalist interviewed several students about their product ideas, business plan, and experience participating in TPP’s entrepreneurship training series. A representative from the Lindi Municipal District and SIDO, spoke to students about the types of support available to aspiring entrepreneurs. 

In her remarks, Dr. Mwita, noted that “since beginning its operations in 2008 in Milola, TPP has worked hard to improve school infrastructure, built capacity of teachers, and supplied learning and teaching materials to improve quality education in the district. The program has built a dormitory for girls to reduce the distance they used to walk to school, improve their academic performance, and develop their life skills to enable them to engage in entrepreneurship activities to support their livelihoods after school. Within the dormitory, TPP has developed different programs to allow not only girls in Milola secondary school but also boys and community to learn various business and entrepreneurship skills like poultry keeping, vegetable gardening, and tailoring.” She assured the participants of TPP’s commitment to partner with like-minded institutions such as SIDO to support and mentor these entrepreneurs and document learnings from their entrepreneurial experience. 

At the end of the training, Mr. Salum Mohamed, a successful local event decorator recruited eight of the students to join him in three events he has been contracted to decorate. He promised to continue engaging them as long as they continue showing interest. TPP plans to maintain the relationship with these entrepreneurs to continue mentoring the students and explore further opportunities to maintain this program.