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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Today, the Center for African Leadership Studies (CALS) and xHub Addis announced that Ethiopia’s first cohort of business mentors for entrepreneurs and business leaders will graduate via virtual ceremony on Friday, October 2, 2020.
The Mentor Development Program, which was moved online due to the limitations of COVID-19, is the first of its kind in the country and is being implemented in partnership with the Young Africa Works of the Mastercard Foundation and the Commission for the Creation of FDRE jobs. Young Africa Works in Ethiopia is the Mastercard Foundation’s strategy to enable 30 million young people, particularly young women, in Africa to access decent work.
“With their boldness and resourcefulness, young entrepreneurs can be an engine for creating jobs, opportunities and widespread prosperity. But they need support that goes beyond capital. To truly harness their potential as agents of change, we need to encourage and enable highly successful and experienced business people to bring their experience and knowledge to a new group of business leaders and risk takers, ”said Alemayehu Konde Koira, Country Director from the Mastercard Foundation in Ethiopia. .
The virtual graduation ceremony, which will be chaired by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, will see 30 mentors enter the Ethiopian startup ecosystem equipped with the knowledge and skills to help entrepreneurs gain independence and grow their businesses.
“The Job Creation Commission is committed to creating decent and sustainable employment opportunities that strengthen efforts to build a prosperous Ethiopia with a bright future. We want to see a country where young people conceive dreams that can really materialize. Mentors are the midwives in this We are happy to have allowed the first cohort of mentors to graduate and our efforts will continue until we make all dreams come true, ”says Nigussu Tilahun, Commissioner of the FDRE Job Creation Commission.
The program, which started in May 2020, aims to train 90 mentors over 12 months and support 20 promising startups. The mentors will focus on providing comprehensive support to startups across the country, including business plan development and technical support; creation of promotional materials; networking, physical space for incubation and seed funding for start-up and maintenance.
“In addition to helping me acquire basic business coaching and mentoring skills, the Mentor Development Program has transformed me personally. It has given me a deeper understanding of myself and who I am as an individual. The program has provided me with great understanding the importance of mentoring in the start-up ecosystem, where there is a high failure rate and where mentoring is seen as a critical building block to building a successful startup, ”said Eden Begashaw, Graduate of the Development Program of Mentors.
During the five years xHub has supported startups in Ethiopia, the organization has identified a shortage of qualified and dedicated mentors to support entrepreneurs. Few startups are successful in the marketplace, largely because they are not adequately guided and equipped to remove barriers in the start-up phase.
“As an organization working to develop people through leadership and social entrepreneurship, CALS-xHub Addis believes that true transformation of a community comes from combining leadership with entrepreneurship. The Mentor Development Program employs a unique methodology to deliver training that equips participants with the fundamentals of mentoring and training, approaches and techniques for business mentors, ”says Tewodros (Teddy) Tadesse, founder and CEO of xHub Addis and the Center for African Leadership Studies. (CALS).
For more information on how to benefit from the National Mentoring Development Program, visit www.xhubaddis.com or email [email protected] or [email protected]
Log in to watch the virtual graduation on Friday, October 2 at 10:00 am (EAT) at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6515027783?pwd=MUQxR1ZTZEdkaW9MVmliSmQxcjY1UT09
About the Center for African Leadership Studies (CALS)
The Center for African Leadership Studies (CALS) aims to create indigenous resources for the study of leadership in a distinctively African setting. The Center is one of the leading consulting firms in Ethiopia with a mission to provide communication solutions and leadership development through numerous strategic and transformative trainings and consultancies to a variety of groups with a contextually and culturally sensitive approach to inspire, equip and shape a generation of competent leaders.
About xHUb
In 2014, CALS founded an initiative called xHub and was born out of a desire to give back to the community and provide a gift of lasting value. XHub’s vision is based on the founder’s desire to offer others what they lacked when they started out as an entrepreneur: mentoring. X on xHub is unknown as there is no limit or scope on what can get out of this ecosystem. Furthermore, the x aims to encourage entrepreneurs to accept failure in their growth process; and contribute to the sustainable development of the country. All members are encouraged to be creative and innovative in finding local solutions to local problems.
About the Job Creation Commission
The Job Creation Commission was established in 2018 under Regulation 435/2018 in Ethiopia. The Commission’s mandate is to lead the job creation agenda, coordinate stakeholders, monitor and evaluate performance with the vision of creating a country where everyone has access to decent and sustainable jobs. With a mission to boost job creation through innovation and action, the Commission aims to facilitate the creation of 3 million jobs by 2020, 14 million by 2025 and 20 million by 2030. Focusing on policies and strategies, compliance assurance and capacity building, partnerships and Investment, innovation and data analysis and systems development, the Commission facilitates and supports the creation of jobs throughout the country.
About the Mastercard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to enable young people in Africa and indigenous communities in Canada to access decent and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest private foundations in the world with a mission to promote learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management. For more information about the Foundation, visit: www.mastercardfdn.org
For interviews and media inquiries, contact
Center for African Leadership Studies
(CALS), xHub Addis
Tewodros (Teddy) Tadesse Araya
Founder and CEO
Telephone: +251 911701361
Email: [email protected]
JCC
Tewedaj Eshetu Dadi
Communications and Public Relations Advisor
Telephone: +251 911620451
Email: [email protected]
Mastercard Foundation
Helen White
Strategy Leader, Program Communications
Phone: +27 76 166 5372
Email: [email protected]
