Creating Youth Jobs Through Entrepreneurship For Agribusinesses Using Online Selling
Client: UNIDO
Programme: Opportunities for Youth in Africa (OYA Programme), in association with WACOMP and AWIEF
Focus: Accelerating job creation for youth in Africa in the agri-business sector
Country: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia
Donor: EU
Goal: The overall objective of the programme is to Increase the employability and capabilities of self-employed youth, strengthen the competitiveness of targeted agricultural value chains and agri-food systems and support more conducive policy, institutional and programmatic frameworks.
Activities: To develop and deliver an Executive E-marketing instructor-led online training curriculum and coaching programme to support 25 entrepreneurs in selling products online and expanding their digital presence globally during the Coronavirus pandemic. The course was designed as a ‘mini MBA’ type programme, covering topics from online business models and defining online customer personas to practical activities and assignments to implement and improve their digital presence immediately.
We also undertook a train the trainer programme in parallel, to provide wider delivery and increased scalability of the programme within UNIDO, with trainers from Ghana, Kenya and Zambia.
Results: The programme launched in June 2021, and culminated with a graduation ceremony on 7 September 2021. The delegates vastly increased their digital skills and knowledge, building self-sufficiency and improved e-marketing and e-commerce capabilities to grow their digital trade.
Outcomes so far include:
Rises in followers on Facebook or Instagram
Highest increases were 344% and 199%
Average increase is 50% for Facebook and 11% for Instagram
Doubled the number of posts (up to 23 posts in one month!)
Transfer of personal profile to business pages
Set up new business Facebook and Instagram profiles
Wider use of different content e.g. why us, testimonials, spotlights on team members, videos and reels
Integration of social media pages with WhatsApp
Set up Facebook Shop and WhatsApp catalogues
Customers asking to buy in comments.
As always, we will be keeping in touch with them all to report back on the results they have achieved.
From the Delegates:
“I truly learnt so much from digital marketing that I previously thought I already knew”
“I didn’t realise how much value this course would bring to my business”
“Now I feel that I’m ready to take on the world!“
“It has opened up the huge possibilities that e-commerce has for my business that I have already started seeing”
“The highlight for me was learning about how many people you can reach”
“Please open it up to more people!”