A section of the Beneficiaries keenly follow proceedings at the Career Fair

ACWICT organized a Career Fair and Mentors Day for its Program Beneficiaries on March 27, 2008 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. 111 young women who have been trained at ACWICT participated in the event.

The overall goal of the event was to expose beneficiaries to the real world situations of Business and Career development through their personal interactions with Financiers, successful Professionals and Entrepreneurs, as well as Employers.

A speech was delivered on behalf of the Permanent Secretary; Ministry of State for Youth Affairs that highlighted the importance of ICT in empowering women and called for ICT models that target the needs of local women. The African Centre for Women, Information and Communication Technology was lauded for being at the forefront in equipping women with ICT and Entrepreneurship skills. The Ministry’s representative encouraged beneficiaries to form groups and apply for loans from the Youth Enterprise Fund.

Representatives from K-Rep Bank and other micro-financial institutions, talked about the various credit facilities available to young women entrepreneurs and the requirements for accessing such credit. Ms Joyce Kyalo of K-Rep Bank advised the beneficiaries to apply for loans from banks including K-Rep to enable them to grow their businesses. She explained that K-Rep as a bank provides various financial assistance to various groups of people, and their various products include “Juhudi”, “Tikola”, and “Katikati”.” The bank offers loans ranging from Kshs 5,000 to the tune of Kshs 1000,000 where people may form groups and benefit from a “group guaranteeing mechanism.” The bank has ‘Malkia’ a product specifically designed for women.”

A representative from the Voluntary Services Organization (VSO- Jitolee) gave a speech focusing on the role of Volunteerism / Community Service in improving employability. Ms. Eve Lwembe also challenged beneficiaries to look out for Volunteer openings even within their local communities where they can offer themselves to give service and gain experience. This form of job placement, she said offers work experience to millions of fresh graduates and school graduates the world over.

There was a session for interaction during which beneficiaries had the opportunity to have individual discussions with the various participants. This went a long way in enhancing their knowledge of various credit facilities available, and building their confidence as entrepreneurs.