Futuremakers Botswana Pioneering Youth Sustainable Development

Futuremakers Botswana

Pioneering Youth Sustainable Development

By Lorraine Kinnear

Youth Africa Botswana (YAB) recently launched its flagship corporate social initiative dubbed, Futuremakers Botswana, after partnering with Standard Chartered Bank. The bank donated a significant US$50,000.00 which amounts to almost P600,000. 00 geared towards the project's implementation.

The Futuremakers Botswana initiative aims to address issues of inequality while promoting greater economic inclusion for young people in disadvantaged communities. This initiative assists underprivileged youth from low-income households, particularly women, girls, and people with visual impairments and other physical disabilities. These marginalised groups are offered support to participate in educational, employability, and entrepreneurship programs.

Globally, Futuremakers have set themselves an ambitious yet achievable target of raising US$50 million between 2019 and 2023 through various fund-raising and bank matching partnerships. These funds will then go towards enabling the next generation to learn, earn and grow. Standard Chartered Bank Botswana identified YAB as a strategic local partner that will spearhead the activities that are in line with the global Futuremakers framework.

YAB was founded in 2016 to equip young people with the right tools for entrepreneurship in Africa's fastest-growing industries, including tourism, hospitality, information, and communications technology (ICT), and agriculture. The organisation's main aim is to create a platform for developing youth talent and innovative skills while also inspiring their interest and imparting soft and entrepreneurial skills.

Learning and Development Manager of YAB, Kago Mweemba

UNPACKING THE FUTUREMAKERS BOTSWANA PROGRAM Young Africa Botswana is the organisation that is implementing Futuremakers Botswana with support from the Standard Chartered Foundation and in collaboration with Youth Business International and the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development.

The Learning and Development Manager of YAB, Kago Mweemba shared his experience with the movement. "I have taken a keen interest in this programme because it strongly fits with my professional background in community development with a specific focus on employment activism from the perspective of capacity support, entrepreneurship support, skills development, and policy efficacy," says Mweemba.

He explained that the core areas are developing content for the validity of the programming within the entrepreneurial landscape in the country, designing and developing the curriculum that helps to support the young entrepreneurs they work with. Their goal is to ensure the inclusion of all relevant stakeholders within the YAB ecosystem and work closely with these partners to maximise its overall impact.

FROM IDEA TO SUSTAINABLE START-UP Youth development plays a critical role in the establishment and maintenance of sustainable economies; Futuremakers' priorities align with the National Vision 2036, particularly underpinning Pillars 1 and 2 that speak to sustainable economic development and human social development respectively. When the program hit the ground running in 2019, a pilot program was run, which impacted 37 young Batswana. "Although this was a pilot, it was very detailed, and we ensured that we get it right from the get-go. We were very focused on unearthing the Futuremakers, that is, we gave the participants of our program the skills to successfully run their start-ups, scale up, and be able to employ other young people in their businesses. We are also happy to have had 78 percent of our participants becoming part of the workforce as gainfully employed graduates of the programme, only 6 months after enrolling in the programme. In terms of the Aspiring Entrepreneurs program, 80 percent of participants had successfully scaled up their businesses in less than a year from completing our programs," added Mweemba.

The program has morphed into a great movement in a short space of time, which is not only inspiring the spirit of entrepreneurship but offers tangible support for young business-minded individuals to move their ideas from paper and onto the ground.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL YAB believes in equal opportunities for all, and as part of its mission to create equal opportunities the entity aims to place youth in a space of equity whereby people who don't have access to certain resources can be given a competitive advantage over those who do.

Although the programmes under the Futuremakers umbrella are intended for youth, the team pursues the idea of equal opportunities for all. Priority will be given to those who are ready to put in the work and are eager to learn more and show a penchant for extending their ideas to help others beyond their stay in the programme. The programme has seen exponential growth as this was shared with regards to keeping the doors open for all who would like to take action towards their dreams and aspirations. "In 2021, we did the second installment of the program that supported over 1139 entrepreneurs, so from the pilot, we scaled dramatically. In all the numbers you get, the individuals support up to two people each so we can give solid figures on this, we believe that the impact we inspire in these young people's lives goes beyond just the success of their business," said Mweemba.

FEEDBACK FROM THE BENEFICIARIES In 2021 YAB introduced a second installment of the program, Futuremakers 2.0; it became important for the team to gauge the experiences of beneficiaries and some voices from the graduates.

The Futuremakers programme not only benefits young people across the country but also empowers those closely affiliated with it. Mweemba is a beneficiary of the program as he graduated from the Financial Management training program offered by Futuremakers Botswana and Young Africa Botswana. He is gratified by this opportunity which will enable him to learn so much about financial management because it is essential for the business and his personal growth.