300 girls complete business training course

JALALABAD (PAN): More than 300 girl high school graduates on Sunday completed a business skills training course in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said.

Arranged by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the course was attended by 303 young girls from Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman provinces, said Matiullah Amanzai, the USAID’s IDEA-NEW Project official.

He said the girls were taught skills and knowledge necessary to be able to generate ideas, develop business plans and manage successful and sustainable businesses.

He said the course was aimed to enhance awareness, knowledge, and practical skills concerning finance, marketing and management and help students gain familiarity with the skills needed to start and run a business.

Instruction in planning, management, purchasing, pricing, marketing, and record-keeping was also part of the skills training.

Nangarhar Deputy Governor Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal said many women still had limited business opportunities outside homes and such training courses had been useful to enable them to develop home-based businesses and support their families. “Women should run businesses in order to meet their daily needs.”

He said there were many other organisations working for women’s empowerment in Nangarhar, but the business training course for them was praiseworthy. He added women should be equipped with skills deemed necessary in today’s life.

One of the graduates, Amina Khogyani, said she was able to run an independent business. She had learnt the skills needed to run a small-scale business. “Women have the potential to run their own businesses, contribute to the country’s economy and lead a prosperous life,” she remarked.

Another graduate, Razia, held similar views. She said she had failed many tests for jobs because she knew nothing about business.

“After graduating from this course, I can easily find a job in the field and it will help me overcome my financial woes,” she said.

The participants of the Taraqi Saba, or “Development for Tomorrow”, course came from Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces graduated from.  The course is funded by the USAID’s Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives – North, East, West (IDEA-NEW) project.

 “When I was looking for a job, the interviewer asked me about my skills and I talked about what I learned from Taraqi Saba program— business planning, how to get capital, profit, marketing and prices. It was very good for me that I knew this because practical skills like these are important for office work too, not just for starting a business,” says a 2012 graduate, Shabana.

ma/mud

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