By Julienne Oyler | Executive Director
Dear Friends,
At African Entrepreneur Collective, we hope you had wonderful holidays and are looking forward to a great 2017. We sure are!
2016 was a year of record growth for AEC. We supported more entrepreneurs than even before, and these entrepreneurs created an astonishing 3000 jobs in Rwanda. We launched a new project working with more than 400 Burundian and Congolese refugees. And, we expanded to the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania.
That being said, we are pushing to do even more in 2017. Here are our top 5 focus areas for the next year and why we think they will yield even more results.
1) Evaluation: To date, we have conducted thorough semi-annual surveys of our entrepreneurs to gain better insights into our program effectiveness. We have done so with the support of incredibly talented volunteers, who have trained our staff. This year, we will be building an in-house evaluation team who provide continuity, and develop more tools and systems for better access to real-time data.
2) Technology: In early 2017, we will be working to develop analog and digital financial tracking tools for our entrepreneurs. We have found that inaccurant cash flow management is one of the biggest hinderences to enterprise growth, so we are working with a team of experts to develop new tracking systems.
3) Staff Development: Having a team of committed and expert staff is key to AEC's success. As we serve more entrepreneurs, we need to grow our team. In 2017, we are focusing on improving professional development and building a pipeline of growth opportunities for our existing staff, while identifying and selecting new high-performing teammates.
4) Integrating Communities: As AEC grows our service area, we have the opportunity to open new markets for our entrepreneurs. For instance, by working with both refugee and non-refugee participants in and around refugee camps, we can open up new opportunities for joint ventures and partnerships among our entrepreneurs. Similarily, we will be more intentional on connecting Rwandan and Tanzanian entrepreneurs and facilitating trade and growth opportunities among them.
5) Partnerships: We can't do our work alone. We know this. So, we are focused on building more strategic partnerships in 2017 to advance our work. From donor agencies to mentors and volunteers, we want to increase the number of like-minded partners to offer even more to our entrepreneurs.
Thank you for your support for and interest in African Entrepreneur Collective. We are looking forward to updating you as we continue to grow.
Happy New Year,
Julienne
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
