ScoutPreneur Project With the aim of creating an enabling environment and opportunities for the socio-economic empowerment of youth, the World Scout Bureau in partnership with Mondragon Team Academy introduced the ScoutPreneur project.

The project aims at harnessing the energy and skills to bring forth the untapped potential in young people through the provision of the know-how on entrepreneurship. This project is focusing on empowering young people through capacity strengthening and entrepreneurial skills development to contribute towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This will happen through tailored business training, access to seed funds, and expert mentorship/ coaching. All beneficiaries of this program will join the pool of resource people for Entrepreneurship. In addition, they are expected to initiate “Leadership and Entrepreneurship Clubs” within their local communities to birth new project ideas aligned with local needs. On the 7th–13th Feb 2022, a team of 16 young people from different NSOs in Africa converged in Nairobi for a week’s training on entrepreneurship. The mix of experiences, differences in cultural backgrounds, and diverse knowledge and experience from our local and international facilitators provided a good mix of learning and sharing best practices throughout the period.

The young scouts were specially trained in Project management, Financial Management, Business incubation, resource mobilization, and strategic communications among others. The training was crowned by a pitching session where the participants having gone through the training were required to propose and defend their business ideas before a panel of judges. So far, the trained scouts have formed small clubs according to the similarities of their business, where they share and advise each other on various issues.

The cohort will further be supported with a seed fund to boost/ start their businesses. The success of the young scouts will spark interest and serve as inspiration to the other scouts to take action in their local communities. Special thanks to World Scout Bureau in partnership with the Mondragon Team Academy (MTA) for making this project possible.