Restore hope - Support & educate a girl in Uganda

We closed out 2018 with an exciting event for all of our mentees, a business pitch competition! Over the past few months, our Senior Mentor, Felix, has been working with all of the girls on topics such as: business planning, marketing, and financial management. The sessions were very interactive and so we chose to showcase what the girls had learned with a business pitch competition. During the competition, 19 girls presented their business ideas to a panel of judges via a 2 minute business pitch. Business ideas ranged from tailoring, soap making, to artistry and tree farming. Each girl stood confidently before the judges and demonstrated her busines acumen, but only three would go home winners.

The girls were judged on the innovation of their business idea, their own understanding of the business idea, and their level of professionalism. After scores were tallied and some deliberation was held, the three winners were announced. In first place was Sara with her crafting business, in second place was Monica with her tree nursery business, and in third place was Robinah with her soap making business. 

Instead of giving each winner a simple cash prize, FICH's senior mentors will visit them at their homes and help them to create a start-up budget. With this budget, FICH will then purchase the materials with the girls so that they learn where to access the materials and how to negotiate prices. 

We are very proud of all of our mentees! They have all showed us how innovative and determined they are to make their community a better place. We look forward to continuing this work in 2019 and being able to add more girls to the program.