By Gerald P. Kierce | Chief Marketing Officer
Generation Enterprise (GEN) has had great success in the past few months, and this is undoubtedly thanks to you!! Our model provides marketable skills training and creates jobs for young people living in poverty across megacities. In Nigeria, over 300 youth have benefited from high quality entrepreneurial education program, which is hands-on/applied, generates income that allows low-income to continue their education without dropping out of work, and creates sustainable jobs in slums. We have tested 60 businesses, and have a current portfolio of 20 companies, 10 of which are growing from micro to small. A great example of our impact is Timilehin's World of Entertainment. Timi, a young entrepreneur trained and invested by GEN, provides movies and music, as well as home delivery service via SMS, in his two entertainment kiosks. Timi has employed four people, while increasing his weekly income by 15x, and enjoying savings of $256.25 since GEN.
Like Timi, there are other examples of young entrepreneurs that have gone from poverty to self-sufficiency to community leadership. However, our job is not done. We will continue to invest heavily in our existing programs, and continue to strengthen our internal capacity to manage this growth. In Delhi, our first class of entrepreneurs will graduate on Sunday, March 2nd, 2014, and we're looking forward to learn about their impact in their communities. In January 2014, a group of MBA students from Wharton's Social Impact Initiative started undertaking a feasibility study to bring Generation Enterprise to West Philadelphia. In early February 2014, our US and Nigerian team continued the partnership with the Lagos State Government and the RCCG and graduated 11 entrepreneurs leading 10 businesses from Lagos Province 24, providing them a loan of 100,00 Naira ($625) to grow their businesses.
Thank you so much for your support. We Have raised over $15,000 (including matchings) for Generation Enterprise, which will be used to invest in our program and young entrepreneurs benefiting from it. Our organization is optimistic about 2014 and the endless possibilities it presents. We are committed to investing in this generation's youth at the Bottom of the Pyramid. We've been called a "ticking time bomb." But there's another way to look at us. We're not a "lost generation." We are GENERATION ENTERPRISE.
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