A four-day entrepreneurship business readiness training of trainer's course was held from Monday, 13th March to Thursday, 16th March 2023, at CMRT, Egerton University.
The program was supported by TAGDev program and aimed to introduce key business skills and knowledge to those already involved in small-scale businesses or potential entrepreneurs.
The training Facilitated by Dr. Ben Oloo Odhiambo (DAFTEC), Victor Kilui Wabwile (AGEC/AGBM) and Edwin Ondiege (CDEV) was attended by a total of 22 participants comprising of lecturers and tutors drawn from Njoro Polytechnic, Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology, Dairy Training Institute, Baraka Agricultural College, and Egerton University.
The inclusion of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) tutors was a significant move towards enhancing the replicability of the course to a wider audience, leading to the growth of student-led businesses beyond the university and the invention of totally new products and ideas.
The business readiness course was a program designed by the Agri-entrepreneurship Alliance with the support of PBL BioAfrica Project. The training targeted faculty members, TVET tutors, PhD students, final year students, and the community at large. The trainers for this training course targeted to train 400 final year students, 40 faculty members, 30 TVET tutors, and 100 members of the community in 10 cohorts.
The module comprised of 30-40 participants per cohort in a duration of four days (40 hours) training period. The training program provided theoretical basis of teaching approach as well as practical guidelines to facilitate ‘experiential learning’ along with exercises and activities that could break the ice and encourage a group of students to build teams and participate fully in the course. The facilitators employed human-centered design and problem-based learning and used key adult learning tools and methods to reduce the lead time between learning of a skill and its practical application to the participants.
Three staff of Egerton University had recently undergone the full package in Zambia. In order to put their experience into practice, the team proposed to train students and the business community around the university once every month.
The training course was designed for the university students and surrounding communities of interest. The program sought to impart critical business skills to the participants that would enable them to start and run their businesses effectively, contributing to the growth and development of the Kenyan economy.
By Kurian Musa Email:
