Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship: How HopeCore’s Street Business School Is Changing Lives
Brian, a student at Meru Institute of Business Studies and a passionate member of the Kieganguru football team, never imagined himself as a business person. But that changed in 2023 when he and his teammates received training from HopeCore’s Street Business School (SBS) program.
This training encouraged them to step out of their comfort zones, think creatively, and explore small business opportunities. For Brian, the idea of starting small took root. Despite being a full-time student, he launched a side hustle—photography—to support himself financially.
By applying the Street Business School principles of stepping out of his comfort zone and starting small, Brian was able to generate income while developing important skills such as marketing, time management, and customer service. These skills opened doors for him, eventually leading to a marketing job where he now sells Hola Energy Drink. Brian is proud to be earning an income and gaining valuable work experience—all while continuing his studies.
“SBS didn’t just teach me business skills—it gave me hope and a future. Now, I have the confidence, the mindset, and the skills to take the first step—whether that’s starting my own business or working with companies like Hola.”
All About HopeCore’s Street Business School Training
The Street Business School (SBS) training program was introduced at HopeCore in 2019. It is a collaboration between the Uganda-based Street Business School and HopeCore, seeking to provide practical, hands-on business skills to community members in groups of 20-30 individuals to enable them to start some income-generating activities and become financially independent, thus reducing dependency syndrome and over-reliance on handouts.
The program adopts an 'education-only approach administered by trained coaches who recruit, train, monitor, and evaluate the graduates' business enterprises. The SBS curriculum has eight modules:
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone
Business Opportunity Identification
Finding Capital and Starting Small
Record-Keeping & Book-Keeping
Market Research, Business Planning
Growing Your Customer Base
Money Management
At the entry point, the coaches collect baseline data for all participants. The baseline data for each participant is compared with exit data after graduation to measure the impact of this training. Since 2019, HopeCore has trained 75 cohorts comprising 2,534 participants. The first cohort consisted of 25 Kaare Community Health Promoters (CHPs).
By fostering self-reliance and sustainable entrepreneurship, SBS helps transform the lives of many youths and communities, providing pathways out of poverty and unemployment.
The picture above (left) shows the first two coaches (Jillo Gubal and Terry Makena) trained in Uganda, and the 12 assistant coaches (right) trained by these two coaches in 2019.
