It was an early start to the day in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania but we were all looking forward visiting the rural town of Morogoro, located 190km from the city centre. Along with the TANZICT team and CEO of COSTECH Incubator we had a long 3 hour drive ahead and driving into beautiful Morogoro was an experience in itself. We were welcomed by Nate who is a passionate young man part of the Global Students Embassy programme and who currently runs a computer training facility in Morogoro.
As we arrived we were directed to a school (read TANZICT post about the experience)where more than 150 learners were waiting for us to discussion social innovation and entrepreneurship. Spending time with this amazing group of young people who are passionate about their communities and social change taught me THREE valuable Social Entrepreneurship lessons:
1) Adversity is the catalysts for innovation. In a community where the learners indicated that the main problems are water, electricity, infrastructure and connectivity were the key drivers for social innovation in the community.
2) Community-driven innovation initiatives are great opportunities to grow into social enterprises. Some of the learners saw an opportunity to start a gardening project where they can grow produce that can possibly be sold to members of the local community.
3) Tension in communities do bring together a wide range of people who as a collective can address the problems in a sustainable way. Through the GSE program it is amazing to see how a number of different stakeholders in Morogoro along with the learners and schools are coming together to make a difference in their communities.
The experience with the learners was nothing short of being special and their passion to learn about entrepreneurship with a social impact tells me that Morogoro, Tanzania has a bright future ahead with world-class leaders.
Source: http://marlonparker.co.za
