Student Business Leadership Training Successful

Published on 23rd June 2009

IREN Kenya in partnership with Boost Fellowship Zimbabwe hosted a one week workshop and training program for high school and university students in Eastern Africa. The program that ran from June 15-20 sought to equip students with entrepreneurial, success and leadership skills and ultimately nurture business leaders who will offer solutions to economic challenges in their environment.

 

The one week event featured a High School Debate Competition in Kiswahili on the theme : Save to Invest and Grow the Economy as well as training  on entrepreneurship, career development and leadership among other topics. 

 

Participating high schools in the training included Lubinu Boys High School; Mukumu Girls High School; Ebuchinga High School; Ebukambuli High School; St. Cecilia Mautuma High School; Senende Boys High School and Kisumu Day High School.

 

In the debate that was attended by over 80 students, the following students and schools emerged winners:

 

No. 1 Linda Mudeisi of Mukumu Girls High School

 

No. 2 Seth Oketch of Ebuchinga High School

 

No. 3 Evans Ouma of Lubinu Boys High School

 

The following teachers judged the students’ presentations: Odali Vicky of Lubinu Boys; Catherine Mubichakani of St. Cecilia Mautuma; Barasa Caroline of Ebuchinga High and Shikuku Charles of Senende Boys.

 

The training, which shifted focus to University students on 19th and 20th June was facilitated by officials from Boost Fellowship-Zimbabwe, SIFE Kenya and the Inter Region Economic Network (IREN).

 

Profile of Boost Trainers

 

Saliwe Mutetwa is the Program Officer for The BOOST Fellowship in Zimbabwe.Her role is to help youth discover their potential for leadership and to develop a successful future for their communities and countries; and providing youth with physical, emotional, instructional and entrepreneurial foundation necessary for cultivation of successful personal and communal futures. Saliwe has a passion for building the youths' capacity, capability and potential to rise up and claim the freedom of their own possibilities so that they can find ways and means to realise their potential in life. She is a graduate of Africa University and is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Leadership & Management with the Africa Leadership and Management Academy (ALMA).

 

Lena Zamchiya is the CEO of the BOOST Fellowship program and Country Director of the SIFE Zimbabwe program.  Both programs aim at empowering young men and women with leadership, entrepreneurship, mentoring and lifelong learning skills. In her role as Country Director of SIFE Zimbabwe, the team from the University of Zimbabwe, won the 2005 SIFE World Cup held in Toronto, Canada.  The team was the first African country to ever win the SIFE World Cup Competition, beating 44 countries from across the globe.

 

After earning her MBA from Howard University in Washington, DC, Lena Zamchiya worked in the United States with a telecommunications company before moving to Zimbabwe. In 2000, she co-founded the BOOST Fellowship to empower young people with leadership and entrepreneurship skills. She also established BOOST Consulting, implementing corporate mentoring programs for executives, middle management, and graduate trainees. Lena used to sit on the Board of MBCA Capital, an asset management company.  Lena is currently training to become a certified Life Coach in the area of Leadership and Performance Management.

 

Lena is a graduate of the Executive Development Program from The University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.  In 2004, Lena was assigned the responsibility of conducting a stock-taking exercise in Zimbabwe for the joint UNDP/UNESCO Foundation for Africa's Future Leadership program. The initiative was designed with a view of 'laying the foundation for a new breed of African leaders (across all spectrums and segments of society) with integrity; commitment; practical exposure to development challenges facing the continent and its People. 

 

Through this program, the BOOST Fellowship was invited to sit on the cell of the Eastern and Southern African region for the Jt. UNDP/UNESCO Leadership program.

 

Lena through her team is currently working on expanding the BOOST Fellowship program to other African countries. To date BOOST is registered in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and registration is in progress in Botswana, South Africa and East Africa.

 

 7th ARB Meeting: Interrogating Governance and Prosperity in Africa

 

Theme:   Interrogating Governance and Prosperity in Africa

 

Date:      November 11 - 14, 2009

 

Venue:    Arusha Tanzania

 

Background

 

Founded in 2001, IREN has organized over 72 high profile forums and hosted over 4,500 delegates from across the globe with varied professional background. These have included high school and university students, farmers, civil society leaders, journalists, policy makers and business leaders who met to discuss issues focused on Africa’s economic development.

 

The economic and governance crisis in Africa has been blamed on colonialism, poor institutions and bad leadership. Africa’s founding fathers are blamed for having adopted a ‘forgive and forget policy’ as opposed to focusing on restitution. African challenges have also been blamed on questionable measurement benchmarks, ethnic clashes and lack of indigenization of the African economy. The 7th ARB meeting will address the theme “Interrogating Governance and Prosperity in Africa” by seeking to answer the following fundamental questions:-

 

 1. How has political leadership in Africa affected governance and prosperity on the continent?

 

2. What role has foreign countries played in the governance and prosperity dilemma facing Africa?

 

3. Do we need new institutional structures to better govern African countries?

 

4. Are Africans doing enough to build their own governance and prosperity structures?

 

5. What standards of measurement should Africa adopt in its quest for better governance and prosperity?

 

IREN invites scholars, politicians, policy makers, civil society members and business leaders among others to the 7th African Resource Bank Meeting to brainstorm on the above theme.

 

For details contact [email protected] cc [email protected] or call +254 20 2731497, Fax +254 20 2723258


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