Skills Training Projects

At the age of 19, Araale Adan was unemployed and lacked skills. He graduated high school in 2019 with an ambition to become financially independent. “I was uncertain about the future, including a journey I should start to find a paid job and the kind of competence to sell to employers.” Said Araale as he contemplated his future. 

Like thousands of youths in Somaliland, Araale began looking for a job, but it was unclear what competencies he would need to secure employment. He never imagined starting a business; in an interview with Shaqodoon, he recounts, “… the path to entrepreneurship was rough, hard, and long… the financial resource or start-up capital was one of the major barriers which hindered me from thinking about starting my own business”. 

Araale is right; SMEs struggle to access finance and lack services to support their growth – most function informally and require training to help professionalize their operations.

Despite the uncertainty, Araale believed there were opportunities, so he embarked on finding information. “I started looking for information about available opportunities in Hargeisa, especially the burning need for me was acquiring technical skills.” 

Through his friends, Araale found out about the skill-building programs that Hargabits Academy provides to youths. He followed Shaqodoon and Hargabits on social media and eagerly waited for updates on the programme. In late 2019, he saw an announcement on enrolling a new cohort of youth for the programme. Araale immediately applied on Facebook and nervously waited for a response.

“I was shortlisted for an interview, and finally, luckily, I was among the new candidates that had been admitted; I enrolled in the graphic design and web development course.” Said Araale with a smile on his face, remising of when he got the news. 

Araale joined the cohort and begun classes. After two months of taking the course, Covid 19 was declared a pandemic, and the teaching method shifted to online. This was difficult for everyone; in Araale’s cohort, Maan Muhumed Ahmed, an ambitious classmate, recalls the difficulty, “the situation was discouraging as I did not have a personal computer at home and could not practice lessons with my smartphone,” Maan kept persisting through the course as both her and Araale’s future path become more apparent. Maan began testing her skills by designing invitation cards for weddings and events. “Some of the clients were paying clients while other services I offered for free.” 

Hargabits Academy provides skills training which includes business development services to cultivate an enabling environment for youth startups and SMEs. This gave Maan an idea, “the skills I learned drove me to think about starting my own business and becoming an employer instead of hunting for jobs. I picked three other male colleagues who I believed would be the right partners (this includes Araale) that will help me to achieve my goal to be an employer.” 

The team came up with different business ideas but settled on one idea. Adeega Creative Agency was formed and won an investment from Hargabits Academy to kick start their business. “I was encouraged by the immediate result of earning our first revenue after Adeege existed only for two days. Said Maan.” 

Adeege is now operational for six months and has clients. “I achieved the two main goals that drove me to think about acquiring skills and finding a job; first, I created a source of income which is independent of my family, and I am now a businesswoman. I also enrolled in an English language course, and I can pay my tuition fee.”Maan reaffirms as she continues to set her life goals. 

In an interview with Araale, he proudly states,” I am one of the founders of the Adeege Creative Agency that provides web development services, digital marketing, media production, and graphic design. I’m also the manager. We are growing fast; we are developing the capacity of the nine staff we’ve employed.”

Since its inception, Hargabits Academy has trained 572 students, of which 45% were female, and 55% were male graduates.Approximately 70% of the graduates got employment, and 10% started their own business.

The success of Hargabits has resulted in several entities reaching out to the academy to have capacity building for their staff.Recently Hargabits Academy trained 12 staff from the SomalilandPresident’s Office on communication. 

Youth should are economic contributor who needs a conducive enabling environment for economic opportunities generating equal access for everyone in the society. More needs to be done collectively to transform the approach in reducing the barriers to youth self-reliance.