Thu, 11 Jan 2018 12:01:51 +0000
By MAILESI BANDA
OVER 430 entrepreneurs have been trained by BongoHive in the last two years through the master class programmes that targets Micro Small and Medium Scale, (MSME) business owners, co-founder and head of entrepreneurship, Simunza Muyangana has disclosed.
Mr. Muyangana said over half of the MSME’s also took up a master class in introductory accounting for small business, how to build a brand, social media for business and public speaking.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, he said those that have attended these classes have discovered ways of exploring the feasibility and viability of their business ideas while those in the launch programme received business advisory support in the early stages of the business which included mentorship from local experienced business people in Lusaka.
“Over the last two years we’ve been privileged to serve just over 430 people who attended our startup programmes Discover and Launch or our business master classes that target people already running MSMEs.”
“Just over half of these took up a master class in introductory accounting for small business, how to build a brand, social media for business or public speaking. Those that attended Discover were exploring the feasibility and viability of their business ideas while those in Launch received business advisory support in the early stages of the business which included mentorship from local experienced business people in Lusaka,” he said.
And Mr. Muyangana described, 2017 as an exciting year with regards to a renewed interest in people addressing local problems by developing ideas that could potentially become sustainable solutions.
Mr. Muyangana however said the year was not void of challenges for startups and small businesses due to the continued high cost of startup finance, adding that the rising input costs also had an effect on the day to day operations of small businesses.
