UNIDO initiative brings African students to India

Updated on: Friday, March 02, 2012

24-year-old Ella Atteba has been keen on starting a community laundry business in her hometown being unhappy with the way people wash their clothes in her city of Abidjan in Cote D'Ivoire. A trip to VIT University in Vellore has put her in a better position to consolidate her business plan.

Ms. Ella is part of a group of 24 African nationals hailing from four West African countries — Cote D'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierre Leone — who are at the VIT campus to undergo a three-month training programme under ‘Youth Entrepreneurship Skills Development Initiative', a joint venture between VIT and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), which began on January 18. this programme is intended to enhance youth employment opportunities in the Mano River Union (MRU) countries through relevant training and skills development programme.

The participants here feel that such initiatives will help create wealth and assets,since africa is rapidly leaving behind its colonial past and moving towards capitalism. Mr. Stalin Kaidbey who is training as a resource person to take back skills to his hometown of Liberia said that “Since we are a post-conflict area, we need a lot more business to be established. This will help the country grow faster. “West Africa should see more investments as seen in South and East Africa.”

There are others here who have come for finding solutions to problems like malnutrition which plague their country. “I run a food processing business to supplement food for infants,” revealed Binto Diallo from Guinea. “My mission is to fight hunger as in my country there is a high prevalence of malnutrition. The objective is to reduce this and provide safe and healthy food,” she said.

Emmaneul Boone Waydon, a 27-year-old from Liberia feels that India's advancements in milk production will help him gain some pointers to set up his business in soya milk production. “I want to grow soya beans and extract milk to enhance the ability of infants,” he said.

Mr. A.Balachandran, general manager, Technology Business Incubator at VIT observed that the objective of the programme is to help the participants come up with bankable business models and help them work on implementing them. “We will follow up with them even after they return to their countries and provide any support they require,” he said.

UNIDO initiative brings African students to India

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