A JOURNEY OF 1000 MILES BEGINS WITH ONE STEP;

IRINGA LIVING LAB ENTREPRENEURSHIP GROUP TAKES FIRST STEP

Iringa Living Lab First Entrepreneurship Group, 3rd July 2012

A month ago, Kristiina of TANZICT met with potential members of the Iringa Living Lab to discuss possibilities of how they can be involved in solving problems/tensions in their community. They listed about 20 tensions and finally zeroed on four which they thought were most critical to handle. Among the key tensions was unemployment. So, one group, led by Ambrose Mwakikoti and Arnold Luhwago was tasked to come up with initiatives to deal with this problem, in whatever small way.

Members of the group were tasked to identify at least three people in their neighborhoods whom they thought needed entrepreneurship training. This they did and yesterday the first training in entrepreneurship took place. Being the first time, the group was introduced to what Iringa Living Lab is all about, emphasizing that human beings have a responsibility of making their communities better. God has given us the resources we need, hands, legs, brains, soils, friends, etc…so failure is just choice.

 A short documentary was shown of Nick Vujicic, who is limbless but has not been limited by his physical condition. It was emphasized that attitude is all that matters in life. As a way of hammering the point home, today we visited Neema Craft, a local NGO that supports disabled individuals in Iringa region to live a productive lifestyle. The visit to Neema Craft has also been very inspirational not only because people with physical defects are very productive but also the fact that they use what would be referred to as useless garbage (e.g. broken bottles, elephant dung, maize leaves, waste paper, etc) to produce high value products.

At the end, everyone was inspired; commitment has been made by every member of the group to work on something-those already in business to better them, those not yet doing productive work to start immediately. They will report back in 2 weeks, coming for another workshop, with new members, at least 2 by each group member. Those interested in working on simple business plans will see Yusuf individually.

Are you passionate about training people in simple entrepreneurship skills? Drop us a message and let’s see how we can work together.  

Breaking technological barriers-Social media excite rural Tanzania

What started as a far fetched dream is finally coming to reality as TANZICT and RLabs have partnered with Iringa Living Lab to initiate social innovations that can impact people's lives in a myriad of ways.

Iringa Living Lab is one of the pioneer living labs in Tanzania. Yesterday, the first community training took place on how to use social media  to expand their social networks and benefit from the   opportunities of globalization and technology.

There was much excitement as some participants touched the computer for the first time.   Indeed it was a Eureka moment for many who had always thought computers are for a select class of people. The training took place at Tumaini University, one of the key partners in the Iringa Living Lab.

Brent, a consultant from RLabs shared his story of how his life was transformed thanks to RLabs that opened doors of hope to people in his community who had lost direction. His story touched everyone in the room.

There  is now new energy.

What a difference Hope makes!