Youth Entrepreneurship Training. The Youth Entrepreneurship training (YE) was a new initiative for TNS and was originally conceived as being implemented in partnership with the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) in El Salvador, Tanzania, and Kenya. This has been implemented successfully in El Salvador, working through technical schools and colleges. In Tanzania the program was adapted to work with out-of-school youth and adults, largely residing in isolated rural areas. In Kenya the program is just starting up and is targeted at poor teenage girls, using non-MG funds. In El Salvador, youth participants have come from entrepreneurial classes at vocational/technical schools (Instituto Technologica de Centro America and others) and universities (Universidad de Centro America and several others), with 156 teachers trained in NFTE methodologies, 7,148 students trained, 43 entrepreneurship fairs held, 92 businesses established, and 158 new jobs created from 2001 to 2006. The program will continue in 2007, with TNS and funding from CONAMYPE and the local Citigroup Foundation, with youth participating from the same higher education institutions. In Tanzania, YE programs were initially directed by/through NFTE and were switched early on to be conducted in Kiswahili and to use ‘Junior Achievement’ methodology. They were targeted largely at out of school youth and young adults, in rural areas with disadvantaged groups (90%). The “Biz Camps” were popular and well attended (the 3,145 participants surpassed the target level by over 1,000%), but few new businesses appear to have been established. Future TNS involvement will be limited, and entrepreneurship training will mainly be driven by individual teachers who were trained under the program. In Kenya and Swaziland YE is using a Junior Achievement model and being implemented with local non-government organizations. Both programs, funded outside the Matching Grant, will be working at the national level through schools and the governments. In Kenya, Nike is a major donor for the program and local institutions are implementing it, with TNS operating in a supportive role. In Swaziland, after an orientation-only pilot effort in 2006, the program is now getting underway, financed by USAID/RCSA (based in Botswana) and private sources and targeted at youth aged 16-24. Implementation is to be carried out by volunteer trainers (largely from financial institutions, corporations, and from universities), with TNS coordination and management. ...
Youth Entrepreneurship Training. The participating institutions, schools, and trainees are all enthusiastic about YE. Its continuation in El Salvador is reasonably certain, with some partner schools fully incorporating the program into their curriculum and making it a requirement for graduation. With Nike support, it was launched in Kenya. However, without a funding ‘champion,’ dedicated resources and a clearly defined position within the organization's strategy, its future elsewhere is uncertain. It is unclear whether one intended impact, improving public perceptions of entrepreneurship, has been achieved and it may still be premature to expect major changes in the public’s view. Success rates of new entrepreneurs or assisted enterprises are not available. Concrete, positive evidence may attract sponsors and donor support and provide the case for more firmly establishing this activity within the organization’s priorities. TNS should consider research on progress achieved. It is a labor-intensive effort that requires continual participation from volunteers or substantial resources. The efficacy of the YE model and its relevance to TNS’s underlying objectives have yet to be clearly demonstrated. Challenges included obtaining counterpart funds in both El Salvador and Tanzania, defining the role of YE within TNS’s mission, grouping of the right participants for the type of coursework (initially students had too broadly diverse skills and knowledge levels), adequately adapting the NFTE U.S.-based model to Africa and garnering sufficient local buy- in for the initiative. Although the TNS-supported NFTE-modeled program will continue in El Salvador, elsewhere NFTE independently manages implementation (in 12 countries, including the USA, India, China, Israel, and some European nations). TNS’s YE programs will continue in Kenya (partnering with NIKE) and Swaziland, but elsewhere no programs are envisioned at this time. Regardless of limited future application through TNS, the initiative yielded tangible results and the basic performance targets were met or exceeded.
