In August 2006, while volunteering for an NGO, Aaron Timothy met a woman who motivated him to look into becoming a social entrepreneur. Participating in an intern position at her company, Aaron gained further knowledge which would prove to be an asset later in his career.
Aaron was introduced to the E-ducation Without Borders Conference in 2007, applied and got though. This experience was an incredible step forward for Aaron.
“Attending this conference was a big eye opener. It was my first time to be out of Africa and to meet to many humble and like-minded people, with a desire to change the world the right side up. I connected with many people, and I started to think and act in a way to change my world the right side up.”
After attending the EWB 2007 Conference, Aaron started to understand and master the concepts of social entrepreneurship. He was fortunate to meet like-minded individuals and from that point forward he has been managing www.enjuba.com.
“I have now moved on to think and create social enterprises, because to me it is useless to start enterprises that will not benefit the bigger community. If we do not take control of our future, it will keep us in the dependence cycle, I want everyone to live a better life. So I create enterprises that help to empower others to be better off.”
Aaron recently received recognition for his work with www.enjuba.com at the Global Knowledge Conference, December 2007 in Malaysia. Winners of the Global Youth Social Entrepreneurship award are chosen from a select few, who have demonstrated their abilities to shine within the industry of social entrepreneurship.
Some of the wonderful projects Aaron is working on are addressing the issues of youth empowerment, savings and investment. Enjuba creates projects which empower young people, allowing them to become leaders and potentially social entrepreneurs within their own right. One of the founding beliefs in this organization is that individual youth have the ability to empower one another. Through the 'multiplier effect' theory, or young peoples’ ability to influence one another towards empowerment in a multiplying fashion, Enjuba hopes to realize the goals of their mission throughout the African region from within Africa.
Enjuba chose social entrepreneurship and leadership as the main focus of empowerment because it is a multi-faceted resolution to some of the major issues within, not only Uganda, but the entire African region. Creating new employment opportunities through independent entrepreneurship addresses issues such as unemployment, economic instability and inactive sharing of knowledge.
“Africa needs its own solutions and we think and believe that if a bigger group of young Africans are trained and empowered to start social enterprises, then they will be very able to help others to do the same and people will start to live a better life. Africa is the richest continent in terms of resources and yet the poorest. With this we believe we can change things.”
Aaron expands to say that, “there is also no program whatsoever to groom leaders with integrity, with values, and who want to act for the good of the country. We want to create that pool of leaders and groom the next generation leaders of Africa.”
Some of the incredible initiatives brought to potential entrepreneurs working with Enjuba include, “a team of artisans who create products and we also work towards empowering them. We created a program that enables each one of them to save 17% of the money they earn and are not allowed to withdraw it in 3 months, and only once. We encourage them to save and so they are able to have this money for future programs. We also help them to invest and grow their businesses by giving the capital to produce at full scale.”
Other achievements include conducting four months of training for secondary school students who are interested in being self employed, working towards social change. Through these training sessions, students expand their knowledge of business, planning and leadership skills; all of which are extremely important life skills and nurtured during their last year of school. This enables them to have an aligned thinking and focus towards following their dreams upon completion of their high school studies.
“We have also been able to encourage our artisans to save money, Most of them used to work to get money for a daily meal, but now they work for the future, and for better lives, they can take their children to school and pay for medical bills and have food on the table everyday. We have also been able to invest in them to scale up their businesses, even buying them vital tools that they need for their kind of work.”
Part of community growth involves changing the way individuals look at themselves, their community and their past experiences. Enjuba faces the biggest challenge of attempting to change the attitudes of individuals who have been working in their trade for years and have not gotten anything out of it.
“There has been resistance as they buy the idea, but still end up to their old way of doing things. This also affected the quality of products and the deadline for production. They were used to producing just anything and at their own time and it was a challenge to tell them that they have to produce high quality products and on time. We have overcome this by increasingly spending time with them, developing deadlines with them and explaining to them the importance of everything, casting the vision, and doing this on a daily basis, to have them understand why they have to do what we want them to do.”
Another common challenge is the financial stability to carry out their desired plans. Enjuba hopes to nurture larger corporations within the area, incorporating a larger camp that will produce mentor leaders and entrepreneurs for the African region. They have a goal of mentoring the next president of Uganda in 20 years time. Aaron hopes to write his experiences and lessons over time in a book which he can share with others, guiding others towards a better life and financial stability.
His first advice to potential social entrepreneurs is to, “be very determined to accomplish their goals and dreams. The difference between successful people and those who are not is that successful people pursue their dreams and focus on their vision, but unsuccessful ones drop their visions and dreams when challenges show up. There are lots of opportunities in this country and I advise them to read and be knowledgeable and to pursue their dreams and visions until they achieve them, however you should not forget that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, and also never forget to move step by step. Be patient, be honest and be committed to what you are doing.”
To learn more about Aaron Timothy or www.enjuba.com, please visit the site, anyone can get involved!
« return.