Empowering the youth with business and digital skills

One of the most impactful ways to build a nation of self-reliant young people is by equipping them with the skills to create their own employment opportunities.

These skills are nurtured by identifying a child’s passions early on and guiding them to develop and sharpen them.

With that goal in mind, 15-year-old Tracy Rabi, the co-Founder of Kids Finance with Tracy, launched the Tanzania Youth Entrepreneurship Experience (TYEE) bootcamps to help fellow young people gain entrepreneurial skills from an early age.

The bootcamp, which caters to students studying under both the NECTA and Cambridge curriculums, has become a platform that brings together learners from different levels to ensure they are exposed to real-life skills in digital marketing, investment, artificial intelligence, and financial literacy.

Speaking to Smart World, Tracy said the main focus of TYEE is to provide children with education in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and digital literacy.

Inspired to start the initiative while reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, Tracy shares that the book opened her eyes to the negative perception that many have about Africa.

“Africa in general is looked down upon by many people,” she shared. This prompted her to seek clarity from her mother on what it means for a country to be underdeveloped.

“I didn’t really understand what underdevelopment is, so I asked my mom for help. I got a full understanding of what underdevelopment is and just how bad the situation is. They say charity begins at home, so with that understanding, I wanted to find a way to help Africa,” she shared.

The bootcamps were then started as a way to provide Tanzania’s youth an opportunity to diversify their understanding of finances, business and entrepreneurship.

“The main reason we do this is that we believe through teaching kids about digital literacy, finance, and entrepreneurship at a young age, their foundation for options is expanded and they can consider more than just employment,” she shared.

Ms Tracy further elaborated that this approach creates a mindset in children that allows them to consider entrepreneurship or self-employment as a viable path.

Now in its sixth year, TYEE has successfully run a series of bootcamp sessions and groomed plenty of alumni, some of whom have gone on to build thriving businesses.

In addition to classroom sessions, the bootcamps also include field visits to see first-hand how the business world operates through the various supporters of these bootcamps.

After a series of training, students from these cohorts are then given an opportunity, at a business fair, to pitch or showcase their ideas to potential investors and grow their businesses.

In collaboration with institutions such as NMB, Mwananchi Communications Limited, Jenga Hub, and other media organisations, TYEE has succeeded in providing young people with hands-on learning opportunities.

“We have mentors and facilitators who come over to teach kids different practical skills they will use to help them set up their businesses now and in the future, should they wish to,” she shared.

The field trips this year involved the Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) where the advanced class learnt how the stock market works, opened their first trading accounts and applied their classroom knowledge to begin trading.

The entire cohort also had an opportunity to visit Mwananchi Communications Limited and Wasafi media houses, who have supported the initiative. The goal was to expose these youths to the business of news.

Tracy believes that through these bootcamps, young people begin to look at the world differently.

“I would like my peers to be able to have a solution-oriented mindsets towards the community for their own benefit and their communities,” she shared.

She further added, “We also have facilitators who teach digital literacy because we would like to have a generation of digitally responsible citizens, capable of using these platforms responsibly.”

The DSE partnered with TYEE this year and according to ICT Manager and overseer of the DSE mobile platform, Hisa Kiganjani, Mr Davis Kyando, the partnership with TYEE allows the youth to begin to understand how the stock market works and to develop an investment mindset.

This partnership has allowed us to interact with the youth from the ages of 10, and we taught them how stock markets work and also how they can use Hisa Kiganjani to invest and trade,” he shared, reflecting further how rewarding his sessions with the children have been.

On the other hand, software engineer and head of ICT at Jenga Hub, Mr Marlon Kakoti, shared that the bootcamps have been designed to also deliver digital entrepreneurship and financial skills, mentorship, and renewal.

Kakoti said the children learned skills such as advanced designing using Canva while other sessions included email creation, digital campaign development, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

“One of the other things that I teach is AI. What is AI all about? How can you use AI to actually profit for our businesses or companies? These are some of the things we taught,” he explained.

Mr Kakoti said they target children aged 11 to 17 to help them begin planning for careers in digital marketing.

“It’s really important because understanding how social media works is important for a child, especially one who is growing into business knowledge or digital finance knowledge. They need to know how to actually use it to their advantage to grow their product or services,” he said.

Many of the students who participated in the bootcamp expressed their appreciation for the unique learning experience.

Grade 6 student, Charlotte Fredrick shared, “I learned about business formulation, how to create a contract, and many other things. I advise my peers to come to this bootcamp to learn more for their business.”

On the other hand, Meherleen Shazmeen shared that she attended the bootcamp to improve her business skills and become more self-reliant. Meherleen, who already has a thriving business that she started in grade 4 and has grown to selling physically in Arusha and through her social media platforms, shares that this bootcamp presented an opportunity for her to learn how to give herself an edge and grow her business.

Form three student, Genevieve Raymond said she chose the entrepreneurship programme because it offered a wide range of lessons.

“I learned about saving and budgeting money for future use. I learned about digital marketing. I learned how to make company logos on Canva and many other things. I encourage my peers to enroll themselves in this programme in the future as it helps so much.”

High school student, Daniel Tabit said he joined the bootcamp to gain a deeper understanding of financial business and learn how to invest in different markets; while grade 5 pupil, Gian Ephraim shares that his resolution after finishing the cohort is to finally launch his snacks business at school.

As the Necta cohort came to an end, Tracy shared how humbling it has been to be an example to her peers and work with them to build a future that favours them. “I do look forward to the Cambridge edition next month and the opportunities that come with it,” she said in closing.