ONE WEEK OF SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING TRANSFORMS PARTICIPANT’S BUSINESS!

Wilbert on a Computer

Wilbert is one of the beneficiaries of a one week social media training that has ended today at Tumaini University College Iringa, organized by the Iringa Living Lab. And what a week it has been for everybody but more so Wilbert who couldn’t hide his excitement.

His story goes as follows. A first born in a family of seventeen, Wilbert lost his father in 2010. As a result, he could not continue with studies after form four, because his mother didn’t have enough money to take him to high school. He is self-employed selling SIM Cards as a mobile agent for TIGO, a mobile telephone operator. TIGO is currently promoting internet services in the country and have tasked their mobile agents to convince as many customers as possible to use TIGO internet on their phones. The problem for Wilbert though has been his inability to use internet, let alone understand what internet is all about.

So, the social media training by Iringa Living Lab came as a big opportunity for him. After just one week, Wilbert has been introduced to basics of social media and gained confidence in the use of email, face book and blogging. 

Opportunity knocks once, so goes the saying! After realizing that social media is after all for everyone, Wilbert straight away went back to his business and confidently started persuading his customers to join TIGO internet.     This time they responded. In one week, he has managed to convince 48 (yes, forty eight) customers to join TIGO internet, thanks to Wilbert’s newly acquired social media skills and entrepreneurial abilities. And his efforts have not gone unrewarded. He has received his commission from TIGO for connecting so many customers in such a short time.

Wilbert’s story confirms what Iringa Living lab stands for; that new technology can be adopted by all human beings irrespective of social status and it can make a huge difference in their lives.

As Iringa Living Lab, we remain committed to produce many more Wilberts and through the efforts and creativity of every one of us, we believe we can make a difference in the lives of others, without waiting for government. It is possible!

OPPORTUNITY NEXT DOOR

Sometimes we think opportunities are so far from us. Not anymore for Iringa Living Lab entrepreneurship group. The entrepreneurship group was started by the pioneer members of the Iringa Living Lab  after realizing that there are many young people who would be productive but are unfortunately jobless or doing not-so productive work. So, the goal of the group is to help these young people around Iringa Municipality see the opportunities vicinity.

One of the amazing places this team recently visited is Neema Craft, a faith-based NGO in Iringa Municipality where people with disabilities have proved that disability is not inability. Although society had written off these people as “not so productive” they are now turning the “not-productive” raw materials into money. And what an inspiration they have become!

Our team visited them recently to see what they do. It was a great experience! Seeing beautiful paper products made from maize leaves, elephant dung, waste paper; turning broken glass into wonderful jewelry, amazing products from clay, all this done by people with physical disabilities!! What a challenge it has been to our able-bodied members of the entrepreneurship team.

Another visit was to the Small industries Organization (SIDO) that makes small (and even medium sized) machinery for making life easy for entrepreneurs. SIDO stands by the motto (though unwritten), "conceive it, we fabricate it". They have helped many entrepreneurs to breakthrough in the business world by fabricating machines for them . But it seems  there are more entrepreneurs who do not know about SIDO than those who know it. Yet SIDO is located just a few kilometers from Iringa town (precisely, hardly four kilometers from town centre), but not a single member of the entrepreneurship team had visited or even known in detail what SIDO does.

So again this was an opportunity to discover the opportunities next door. Because of the many opportunities at SIDO, another more formal trip is planned by the team. In the meantime though, some members are working on their business ideas. Thinking of what business to do? Opportunities could be waiting for you just next door; you only need to venture out. As our entrepreneurship team  can attest, to succeed we do not necessarily need big ideas, a little creativity, as demonstrated by Neema craft, with a mix of technology as SIDO has proved, could be the trick!

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!