MTN Uganda, MUBS unveil youth-centered entrepreneurship TV show dubbed Nsindika Njake.
By Racheal Nuwahereza
MTN Uganda, in partnership with Makerere University Business School (MUBS) has today unveiled a youth-centered entrepreneurship TV show dubbed Nsindika Njake.
The initiative is aimed at inspiring and stimulating the entrepreneurship acumen among the youth through supporting them with business-related-skills to efficiently operate businesses.
As a way to alleviate the high youth unemployment rates prevalent in Uganda currently standing at 64% to 70%, with over 400,000 young people entering the job market every year to compete for a mere 9,000 jobs, as 78% of the country’s population below 30 years, the initiative will provide immediate employment and job creation opportunities.
It will also combat the inability of majority start-ups failing to make it through their second year for reasons including the lack of entrepreneurial skills.
While launching the Nsindika Njake program at a press conference held today at the MTN Uganda Headquarters in Kampala, Somdev Sen, MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer said that the show would go a long way in addressing the unemployment issue that the youth are currently facing.
“Given the high rate of youth unemployment, many youths have taken the right path of starting small businesses but sadly, majority of them have not had the opportunity to get the skills required to effectively operate a business. We believe that this show will teach them how to navigate the day-to-day challenges that they face in their businesses and set them on a path to becoming better entrepreneurs,” said Somdev.
Nsindika Njake is a TV show that will air every Wednesday 8.30 pm on local TV stations with a repeat on Sundays featuring the educated or skilled and the unskilled entrepreneurs running small enterprises commonly referred to as ‘hustles’ with the goal of equipping them with the requisite business skills to successfully run their hustles.
The 12 participants (small business owners) of the show will be mentored and trained by the MUBS entrepreneurship and small business center and thereafter engage in solving business-related challenges based on what they will have been taught for a period of 12 weeks.
Dr Diana Nandagire Ntamu, the Director MUBS Entrepreneurship Innovation and Incubation Centre lauded MTN Uganda for the unique Nsindika Njake program adding that tackling youth unemployment is a collaborative effort since classroom and experiential learning aims at harnessing the youths’ entrepreneurial potential.
“92% of the young people that join the workforce in Uganda go to the informal sector and a lot of them are running SMEs yet they have no experience. As MUBS, we pride in supporting those young people through capacity building and mentorship so I must say that I am very excited to have worked with MTN. While MUBS fosters entrepreneurship, MTN Uganda wants to support young people,” said Dr. Ntamu.
The top 3 winners will walk away with assorted cash prizes, while the grand winner will get a cash prize of UGX 60 million.
The prize money will be issued over a period of one year upon the achievement of key milestones and participants also stand a chance to win instant Mobile Money.