HALF WAY THROUGH GET SMARTER COURSE, AND IRINGA LIVING LAB GETTING SMARTER

 

By Yusuf Ssessanga

The Iringa Living lab members taking part in the Getsmarter Internet Super User course are now half done with the course, and are getting smarter, as one member Anold Luhwago always puts it. According to Anold, the course has been an eye opening experience for him. Just in the third week of study, people around his work place realised he has extra knowledge about internet and two of the neighbours asked him for help. He offered the help and was paid for it. He is now figuring out how to turn this knowledge into a real business opportunity.

Some of the Participants in the Internet Super user course sharing ideas. A young participant gives them company.

I have personally been shocked at what I did not know about the internet and computers. I now realise I have been taking online security lightly, but also not using the power of the internet to its fullest. And I am not alone. Participants attest to the same. 

The purpose of training six members of Iringa Living Lab is to start building capacity of the members who can train others competently. As Iringa Living Lab, we have a plan to start offering training to different groups of people on social media and entrepreneurship, in a more structured way than we are currently doing. This course is preparation for this. We shall recruit young people first, especially those who have not been lucky to continue with formal education after secondary school. 

We shall take them through intensive training for six months, after which they will graduate and those with passion and more competence will be recruited to train the next batch. The Internet Super user course therefore comes at the right time, because we believe we will have a competent team of trainers who will make these plans possible.

Another participant, Ambrose who is a community and church leader is very excited about the course and can’t wait to enrol some members from the community into the Grow Academy, our six months training program.

But the Internet Super User course has also been challenging to some participants, especially the fact that it is online and physical contact with the trainer is not possible. Hence the first weeks did not go well with a few of us. Now we are all getting used to this new methodology of learning, which is unavoidable in the 21^st century. 

As we run the last half, I trust we shall all be able to graduate with a certificate from the Prestigious University of Cape Town.

A big thank you to Rlabs Cape town who are making this possible. A big up to TANZICT who play the role enabling role.

Acquire an Alternative Mindset - We Can All Become Entrepreneurs

By Yusuf Ssessanga

A couple of weeks ago Iringa Living Lab was a hive of activity. The long awaited training on entrepreneurship was finally done, by Mr. Craig Ross from RLabs Cape town. The training attracted more than 20 participants of Iringa Living Lab. And what a week it was!

Participants from Iringa and Mbeya Living Labs.

From the start, Craig emphasized that he was not going to teach, because he’s not a university professor. He was neither going to share new information, we all know what entrepreneurship is about. “So what is he going to do?”, some participants wondered. “I am going to share what has worked in my life, what I have seen work at Rlabs”, he said.

Craig Ross from RLabs shared his story and his experience on entrepreneurship with us. 

Well, true to his word, he shared his experience, in a simple but powerful way. His first challenge was to go against what most people think is a key aspect if one is to become an entrepreneur, having capital. Craig said to become an entrepreneur, one does not need capital. You need a powerful idea that can add value to your target clients.

CREATE VALUE!!

VALUE!!!! Not that we had not heard about it, it’s a word we come across very often. But, many of us attending the training understood value differently. Many believed it’s about selling a high quality product or service. How wrong we were! Craig proved to us that Coca Cola is not in the business of selling coke, they sell happiness, refreshment! What? Yes, think about it, close your eyes, think of all the Coca Cola adverts, you see that they sell happiness?

Idea generation.

And how do you start a business without capital? It was our turn to prove what many of us didn’t believe was true. After taking us through the exercise of idea generation, now it was time to answer the question, how we go forward with our brilliant ideas. We looked at the enormous requirements for each idea. And then, we looked at what we already have. Many of us discovered we already have what it takes to start, and then capital in form of money can find us on the way. Really!!

Working on the business ideas.

And we all have something at our disposal. So what makes many people not to start? It’s the mindset. We need an alternative mindset, to begin to see the same things with different lenses! Now, this requires a paradigm shift. That is the task we have.

Craig Ross: "If you want to do good, there's no excuses anymore!"