PYAKASA YAE VOLUNTEERS HUB

The activities of the hub has being exciting and filled with enthusiasm.Pyakasa is a settlement along the Airport Road in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) about 3 kilometers from the overhead bridge at the Federal Housing Estate, Lugbe. The indigenes are predominantly farmers.
We began our activities with a visit to the village head Sarkin Fada Chief Shadrack Bari on the 19th July 2013. We addressed the village head on our activities. With no response from the elders we decided to focus on the youths which were our primary target audience. Our first meeting with the youths took place on the 24th of July 2013 at the Government Junior Secondary School, Pyakasa. Twelve youths from the community were in attendance. I informed the youths on the activities of YAE with the help of Mr. Emmanuel Edet an English teacher with the school. We owe a lot to the effort of Mr Edet.

To mark the launch of the YAE hub in Pyakasa, a semi- formal workshop was held on 2nd August, 2013 with the Communication Officer of YAE, Kabir Onimisi presenting an exciting presentation on the activities of YAE. The meeting was attended by sixteen (16) volunteers and Emmanuel Edet as the host. The youth asked diverse questions on Agro-business and enquired about other areas of entrepreneurship.

At the end of this inspiring workshop, representatives of the Hub were selected by the group and social innovation ideas to along the ideals of YAE were discussed by the young students. Two ideas were initiated awaiting further meetings and developments to be sure which to follow up on.

(1) The students suggested starting a co-operative farm together were they can work and practice the entrepreneurial skills they would hope to acquire under the YAE project
(2) The idea of marketing Moringa Oleifera plants that grew in abundance around Pyakasa village was also discussed.

FINDINGS/OBSERVATIONS

1.The young person is always ready for change. The young people are ready for adventure and want to be financially independent of their parents

2.The old folks are carefuland more sceptical with trying anything new.

3.From the questions asked by our volunteers we have much work to do to bring about the revolution our social enterprise seeks to achieve in terms of providing them with exposure to business and entrepreneurial skill sets.

The Pyakasa Hub would be meeting twice a month

By Anngu Orngu
Co-ordinator YAE Volunteers Hub(Pyakasa)