Jay Valand, Business Lecturer at Harrow College volunteered for 10 weeks in Tanzania over the summer period helping young local villagers to set up their own businesses, feel empowered and provide the foundations for sustainable development in their community. The charity he volunteered for was Raleigh International - a charity dedicated to sustainable development and developing skills for people in developing countries.
Based in a village called Itulike in Southern Tanzania, Jay lived with a local family. His team, consisting of thirteen volunteers taught basic business skills such as idea generation, planning, financing and budgeting.
The team mentored young villagers to create their own business ideas and plan to pitch to the charity (Raleigh International) and local partner East African Dairy Development (an organisation funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) for a start-up loan for their business.
Jay assisted two female entrepreneurs to create a partnership business to raise chickens and produce eggs. He also assisted a young male entrepreneur to establish his own solar panel business. Out of the eleven entrepreneurs that went forward to pitch their idea, all eleven were successful in securing financing.
Jay would like to send out a big thank you to all the Harrow College staff members and students that supported him to be able to volunteer in Tanzania. Without their support and assistance to raise the fundraising target he required (£950 in 9 days, exceeding the target of £800) he would not have been able to make the positive impact his team had in the village. The project was a great success!