teaching kids the joy of entrepreneurship
Welcome to YEP! – our Young Entrepreneurs Programme.
Our aim is to help our homes become self-sustainable by building profitable small-scale businesses.
changing the future...
The Joy Africa Foundation currently helps support 3 houses in Africa raise former street children, but we want to move away from donations and help make these houses self-sustainable. In the process we also want to teach the children the joys of entrepreneurship, as good employment opportunities are very limited where they live – even after tertiary education
...one chicken at a time!
We believe that something as humble as a poultry coop, corn, and vegetable gardens will help us accomplish this lofty goal! Hold on to your hard hats, we’re going to tell you how we plan to change these children’s futures in a sustainable manner.
Joy Africa Foundation rescues, rehabilitates and nurtures abandoned and abused children aged 0-18 in Mbale in the east of Uganda. We currently have 40 residents, but more children are appearing as they hear about our work. While all the children at home have access to quality education at local primary and secondary schools, the education system in Uganda does not offer practical entrepreneurial and agribusiness skills to equip young people to be financially independent after graduating from high school.
Many young people who exit group homes remain vulnerable as unemployment is rife. They could easily fall back to living on the streets or engage in criminal activities. Unlike other group homes in Uganda where children exit when they turn 18, Joy Africa Foundation offers support to all its young people until they complete a tertiary level of education and secure decent livelihoods.
Joy Africa Foundation identified poultry farming as one of the most viable and lucrative small-scale businesses requiring very little capital to launch. It can generate income from more than one product. An entrepreneur can generate a steady income from selling eggs, chicks, fully-grown chickens and manure. The kids can learn entrepreneurial skills and how to stand on their own two feet, whilst continuing to attend school.
Given the high rate of youth unemployment (41%), we intend to use this project to additionally provide skills training for appropriately-aged children in the local community. The Joy Africa Foundation home will thus make an additional positive impact in its neighbourhood.
Project specs
Project Start – 1 July 2023
Duration – 2 Years (Estimated)
Project Details: Over the two-year period, to
- build and maintain the structure (chicken coops),
- purchase the chicks and feed,
- set up solar panels for the home,
- provide sufficient security,
- hygiene and medication systems,
- transportation to market etc.
Central to the founding principles and values of Joy Africa Foundation, is the notion of gender empowerment for abandoned and orphaned children.
Through YEP!, Joy Africa intends to promote decent work and social cohesion for both male and female children who have grown up in a group home setting. At the same time, we will promote climate, environment and biodiversity through poultry and corn and vegetable farming at the Joy Africa Foundation premises.
Manure from the poultry farm will be used as fertilizers on our crops while the crops will provide organic nutritious chicken feed for the poultry farm.
YEP! is a sustainable project that will generate at least 60 per cent of its running costs through income generated from the sale of eggs, chicken, vegetables and corn from the farm after the initial funding drive. Key activities that will take place after the two-year project funding ends, include the following:
- JAF staff who received training at the train the trainer workshop will manage the poultry and crop farm
- JAF staff will offer practical age-appropriate agribusiness skills to children aged 12 and above. This training will be offered during school holidays for children who are in boarding schools and over the weekend for children who are in day schools.
- JAF will use the profits from the farm in the first three to five years to scale the project in Mbale.
- As children become adults and transition from the group home, JAF intends to set up a cooperative of young poultry and crop farmers in Uganda and continue to provide agribusiness training and mentorship for success.
- Every year, Joy Africa will host an annual summit to share learning on enterprising young people through agribusiness especially those in rural Uganda.
Flagship home
Joy Africa Foundation (JAF) will implement YEP! in Mbale Uganda to equip 50 children aged 12-18 with entrepreneurial skills in poultry farming and generate a living income.
JAF offers a secure & happy home for 40 abandoned children in Mbale. While all our children attend full-time education, the local system does not offer any entrepreneurial skills to enable financial autonomy after high school – youth unemployment is 41%.
YEP! will break the poverty cycle & create sustainable livelihoods.
After year 2 of the Project, we anticipate generating 60 per cent of income from the sale of eggs, chicken, vegetables and corn from the farm. After year 5 of the project we anticipate the project will generate 100 per cent profit and be able to run itself without income from our partners.
Profit generated from years 1 – 5 will be invested in two-fold:
- Scenario 1:
Joy Africa Foundation will apportion a percentage of surplus profit to scale up our poultry and crop farm in Mbale and its surroundings. After Year 5, the oldest children at Joy Africa Foundation will be about 19 years old. They will have the opportunity to receive seed funding and support to set up their poultry and crop farms in Uganda under the supervision and support of our agribusiness facilitators and trainers. - Scenario 2:
Joy Africa Foundation will apportion a percentage of surplus profit into an education fund to support tertiary education for young people at home who prefer to pursue tertiary education upon completing their high school education.