« 100 Years – 100 Lives » | TANZANIA - “The ILO training was a real life-changing experience”
Max – a young man from Dar es Salaam – changed his mind about trainings when he attended an ILO entrepreneurship programme that led him to start his own business.
DAR ES SALAAM - Max ls a young man living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital city. He dropped out from school quite early but he always wanted to succeed in life.
Max had informally learned welding from one of his friends and finally decided to work at his workshop.
However, Max’s life took an unexpected turn when he met with a trainer involved in the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme who invited him to attend one of his training sessions.
This was – according to Max – a real « life-changing » experience.”
Pleasantly surprised
Max had attended a number of entrepreneurship training programmes before and was not convinced it was worth the money.
« In one of the training they taught hundreds of us in a single venue how to make shampoo, soap and batik clothes in just one hour. How can everyone learn the same business? So I thought all entrepreneurship trainings were the same, and I decided that I was not going to waste time and money to attend any other training,” he recalled.
That was until he heard of the ILO SIYB training. He attended it because he thought it might be something different, and it surely was.
For the first time he was pleasantly surprised. He was taught the key principles of business like marketing, business planning and costing. He immediately decided: “I’m going to start my own business”. For the next three months, Max worked hard with the aim of saving some money to establish his own enterprise. His idea was to produce and sell beds. He rented an office and bought he raw materials he needed. He resigned from his old job and created his own business for good. He invested in creativity, good customer care, and proper marketing. Now his business is successful.
Keeping a realistic approach
Max says that after the training he reflected on his life, and realized he could make his dream come true. He always liked helping others so as soon as he could, he hired three employees and four trainees.
However, he kept a realistic approach.
« A new business is always a challenge, you need to look for new customers and make sure that you satisfy their needs », he said.
“Sometimes I don’t get customers at all for a long period of time, but the ILO training has instilled in me the courage to move along with these challenges,” he added.
Max also has many plans for the future.
« “I would like to own a big workshop and a showroom where I would display the products that we make. I would also like to turn my workshop into a learning facility for other ambitious young people, » he concluded.
Max had informally learned welding from one of his friends and finally decided to work at his workshop.
However, Max’s life took an unexpected turn when he met with a trainer involved in the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme who invited him to attend one of his training sessions.
This was – according to Max – a real « life-changing » experience.”
Pleasantly surprised
Max had attended a number of entrepreneurship training programmes before and was not convinced it was worth the money.
« In one of the training they taught hundreds of us in a single venue how to make shampoo, soap and batik clothes in just one hour. How can everyone learn the same business? So I thought all entrepreneurship trainings were the same, and I decided that I was not going to waste time and money to attend any other training,” he recalled.
That was until he heard of the ILO SIYB training. He attended it because he thought it might be something different, and it surely was.
For the first time he was pleasantly surprised. He was taught the key principles of business like marketing, business planning and costing. He immediately decided: “I’m going to start my own business”. For the next three months, Max worked hard with the aim of saving some money to establish his own enterprise. His idea was to produce and sell beds. He rented an office and bought he raw materials he needed. He resigned from his old job and created his own business for good. He invested in creativity, good customer care, and proper marketing. Now his business is successful.
Keeping a realistic approach
Max says that after the training he reflected on his life, and realized he could make his dream come true. He always liked helping others so as soon as he could, he hired three employees and four trainees.
However, he kept a realistic approach.
« A new business is always a challenge, you need to look for new customers and make sure that you satisfy their needs », he said.
“Sometimes I don’t get customers at all for a long period of time, but the ILO training has instilled in me the courage to move along with these challenges,” he added.
Max also has many plans for the future.
« “I would like to own a big workshop and a showroom where I would display the products that we make. I would also like to turn my workshop into a learning facility for other ambitious young people, » he concluded.