Earlier
this year, several Chicago business men and women were in the east African
nation of Kenya helping young entrepreneurs there establish or better run their
own businesses.
It was
the second year of a U.S. Department of State program run by the Chicago-based
non-profit organization Heartland International. Through the program, Heartland
was tasked with reaching across the culture divide that existed between members
of the once-warring Kikuyu and Luo tribes and unite members of the groups
through entrepreneurship.
The task
was as humanitarian as it was about business plans and balance sheets.
Next
month, as the program continues, 10 business men and women from the Kenyan town
of Nyahururu in the Rift Valley will be in Chicago to participate in
internships at
Chicago
businesses involved in helping to train them.
“This
program looks to engage youth and give them other options for their future to
consider, and also hone their business skills,” said Heartland International
President Julia Stagliano.
They are
all members of the Kenyan Young Entrepreneur Association - started out of this
program - and are set to arrive here Oct. 22 and stay through Nov. 19.
The
workshops, seminars and the exchange of business an cultural ideas and
experiences over the four weeks that the Kenyans will be in the city are all
designed to help them with their own business aspirations back home and
foster “peace through
entrepreneurship,” Molly O'Donnell, director of the program for Heartland
International, told the Defender.
She
explained that to be successful, the members of the Kenyan Young Entrepreneur
Association would have to, “Get away from the idea of the ethnic tensions or
the tribal tensions and forge the concept of business partners.”
More
simply said that done, but O'Donnell said, “that was the way to both bridge the
issues and address the concepts of the violence and unemployment but also
create something that, in a sense fostered … developing a relationship between
ethnic groups and even forcing them to work together to succeed.”
Their
industry interests vary.
One
participant owns a beauty salon and is looking to open another one that is more
upscale and offers a wider variety of services. Two other tech-minded men who
currently own an Internet café and do computer repair look forward to exploring
how they may be able to up their business. Other participants include ones in
the real-estate with goals of developing housing in their homeland.
The
Kenyan business men an women, all age 25 to 35, not only have to deal with
inter-ethnic disputes, but also other biases that often hinder economic success
among young adults in the African nation, O'Donnell explained.
In their
homeland, their age is assumed to be indicative of their wisdom - or lack of -
and level of responsibility and O'Donnell said that simply because of how old
they are, getting a bank loan to start or sustain their own business can be
difficult.
“A lot of
banks won't give them loans just because they're (for example) 30 years old and
they're considered too young to be responsible,” she said.
But as a
group, the young entrepreneurs are much more “empowering.”
The
organization is still in need of more businesses to place the Kenyans for
internships, as well as homes for them to stay in. Any business or individual
interested in hosted should contact Molly O'Donnell at molly@heartlandinternational.org
or Julie Stagliano jstagliano@heartlandinternational.org.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
