Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) held a three weeks training boot camp for young entrepreneurs
in Lesotho. The training was intended to empower youth in various business management services such as marketing, branding, legal, Human Resource (HR) and finances among
others. TEN Head of Marketing and Projects Seheshe Hoohlo explained that entrepreneurship network is part of the Enhancing Youth Empowerment Project (EYES), which is run
and funded by the UNDP. He said the EYES Programme aims at enhancing youth involvement in entrepreneurship for sustainable development. He highlighted
that the UNDP has come up with the project in order to support the government of Lesotho, which has identified four focus areas for development of the
country. He said these four focus areas fall under the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP II) which has split the economy into manufacturing, agriculture, tourism
and creative arts and technology and education. “The belief is that if the youth could have businesses within these areas, they would improve the economy of
Lesotho,” he said. He further said the aim of TEN boot camp is also to assist youth with skills that will professionalize their businesses and help them to compete locally and in the
international market. Hoohlo said TEN started hosting these kind of workshops since last year where they had 90 participants, and this year they trained 60 youth aging from 18 to 35 years.
He said since the beginning of the boot camp, they have partnered with skilled personnel that helped in coaching the trainees. He said after the workshops, they normally make follow ups on their trainees to
ensure that their businesses are still surviving and also assist them with implementing all the skills they learnt during the workshop. “These follow ups
help a lot of businesses and we are hoping to extent the programme going forward,” he said. One of the trainees Letsatsi Lekhooa from Quthing said he owns a farm where he
plants trees and an internet shop where they also do Curriculum Vitae (CV) review. “Through this workshop, I have realized that as the youth, we do have the
potential to improve Lesotho’s economy, we just need soft skills to achieve that,” he observed. Lekhooa further added that the training also taught them
about good customer relations, budgeting, branding and marketing a business. “The workshop is going to unlock the potential of the youth as we have so much to offer to this country,’ he added
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