“First impressions matter!”, said 24-year old Asiimwe Priscilla when she saw Kampala’s cheery Sawa Solution Centre her first time. Amidst the displays, workshops, and new friends, the recent quantitative economics graduate of Makerere University found genuine hope for employment and income, after months of disheartening joblessness.
Priscilla returned a few days later to learn how to craft glistening green liquid soap. Making soap is now her business, and she’s earned $8.86 US (30,000 Ugandan Shillings) so far. By selling liquid soap to all the student hostels in Makerere Kikoni, she aims to become the biggest supplier of liquid soap in her area. Proud of the product she makes, and in a gesture of goodwill that is also a smart marketing move, she has given soap to her neighbours and friends free of charge.
“It has changed my life,” she says thankfully about newly learned skills that have become her new source of livelihood. Just like Asiimwe, thousands of unemployed youth will learn practical skills for self-employment at the fourth annual Sawa World Day on September 24. Sawa World Sparks will demonstrate proven, easily replicated solutions that promise exciting changes ahead.
