The Fourth Cohort: More Women Graduate from the Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program

By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AEP’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and also one of our Success Stories.

Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel as she pursues a journalism degree.

The fourth cohort of the Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program Parent Training graduated this month. In this cohort, 26 women, most of them mothers of the children and youth who attend the Amos Youth Centre, passed the course and received their certificate of completion. With this being the fourth graduation ceremony held by the Entrepreneurship Department, we wanted to ask the coaches what makes this particular cohort stand out? And what do the coaches that worked tirelessly for four months have to share?

Most of these women have never attended a graduation ceremony before, this was their first. The first time to be celebrated and awarded for their hard work. This was a story that they were very happy to share with their children, family members, neighbors and who ever needed to know! You could hear from time to time, a woman picking up her phone and making a call to announce the graduation. They were very excited.

The celebrations started early, by the time it was 10:00 AM, dozens of women had already arrived at the Amos Youth Centre where they would begin their march to the graduation site. It was time for the parade! The women were to march in the company of a brass band that played songs of celebration. As the women marched along the parade route, onlookers stood to admire and congratulate them. Children in the community joined in the march, no one could stop them from taking part in the joyous occasion. The support from the community as the graduates kept marching symbolized unity and ownership as people in the community echoed praises on their achievements.

For Benard and Violet, Entrepreneurship Coaches from the Amos Youth Centre, witnessing this incredible moment was both a relief and a goal. The two, both graduates and alumni of the Amos Youth Centre, launched the Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program in 2021 during the pandemic after being trained by Street Business School. When asked if their goals and dreams prior to the launch are getting realized, their answer was a resounding yes.

This was Benard’s first job upon graduating from the University of Zambia, he initially had his fears and doubts. He shared about how in the first cohort he was nervous to graduate the 30 women that completed that training. Looking back now, he was headed in the right direction and learned from each moment with poise. He shared, “This moment today, being able to graduate a fourth cohort, feels incredible. I am reminded of the first time that my colleague and I worked on this. We both were nervous about the process. From receiving training at Street Business School to starting here, it was all exciting and scary. But now I am happy that we started!” Benard also took time to share with us about his favorite part of the graduation. He shared, “Standing in front of the women and handing the certificates to them is my favorite moment. I look forward to that each time that we have a graduation. I love it so much because I see the joy on the women’s faces. They smile like I have never seen them do so before.”

To Violet, each graduation is different and special. She had just graduated high school when she was hired alongside Benard. A high school graduate that has witnessed 112 women trained and empowered. In each cohort Violet has continued to value the power of experience before theory. This is because most of the women that she has trained has a business or owned one before. “I imagined that I was going to use everything that I learned at the business school exactly as I was taught. After training the first cohort, I now teach according to the needs of the women receiving the lessons. My colleagues and I have found methods to make the lessons tailored for each woman. There are times that I am delivering a module and a woman would speak out and tell me their experience and that would benefit both me and the other women in the cohort.” She jokes that she now feels like a mother after graduating so many women. Violet is hopeful for the future. She says these four cohorts are only stepping stones with more to come. Her distant dream is to be able to train women who are not a part of the AYC program because of the many requests from the community.

Happy receives her Certificate of Completion from Coach Benard

Happy is a graduate from this cohort. She described the event as a dream come true. She is a single mother running a number of business trying to support herself and her two children. After her divorce, she was left with little to nothing to live on. Her business includes recycling bottles, selling bed linens and kapenta, a small type of fish.

The training has added to her knowledge of business. She says the module on bookkeeping and coming out of your comfort zone were her favorite. She shared, “After learning from these modules, I felt very confident to go and apply it to my business. What makes this training impactful is that immediately after learning from the classroom, you are able to use it and begin seeing results. I am very happy to see my business improve.”

There are so many success stories that can be told from this cohort.

Like the story of Janet, who also just graduated. Janet has been in AYC’s sponsorship program since the 8th grade. She completed high school in 2020 and since then has been spending her time running a small business in front of her family home. She is not a mother but the Entrepreneurship team made an exception adding her to the cohort. Janet sells various food items at her stand, from dried fish to laundry products that are packed in small plastic containers. Janet is now focused on expanding her business and selling second hand clothes called ‘Salaula.’ She has identified the need after learning about market research from one of the modules. Her dream is to become a successful entrepreneur.

So, the graduation started with a woman wearing her graduation cap and ended with her walking home with her certificate! Congratulations to the fourth cohort and more women empowered!

Janet receives her Certificate of Completion from Coach Violet.