Award Ceremony for Innovative Business Practices in Poultry Value Chain
The Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE) organization, in collaboration with Arsi University, held an award ceremony to innovative business idea winners which comprises immigrants, potential immigrants, un-employees, youths and pro-poor communities. This event showcased remarkable potential young entrepreneurs, selected from a competitive pool of 171 applicants.
The top ten awardees were chosen based on rigorous criteria established by WISE and the International Labor Organization (ILO), reflecting their commitment to fostering youth entrepreneurship. The ceremony attracted various stakeholders, including representatives from Asella Town’s trade, agriculture, social affairs, and job creation offices, all eager to support the winners.
The awardees demonstrated a keen interest in the poultry value chain, with innovative proposals focusing on egg production, day-old chicken supply, animal food processing, and incubation and feed processing machine invention. Following the awards, participants raised important questions about how to ensure the success and sustainability of these young entrepreneurs, committing to play an active role in their development.
Dr. Dereje Tsegaye, from Arsi University’s Department of Animal Production and the project’s focal person, highlighted the extensive screening process that led to the selection of the winners. He congratulated the awardees for their achievements and encouraged them to pursue their business ideas with determination.
Mr. Jalata, a representative of WISE, also congratulated the winners and emphasized the importance of hard work as a pathway to becoming role models for other unemployed youths. He reaffirmed WISE’s commitment to ongoing support for the awardees.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Mustefa Bati, Academic Vice-President of Arsi University, expressed gratitude to WISE for the initiatives, financial support and organizing such important event, as well as Dr. Dereje Tsegaye and his team for their dedication. He congratulated the winners on their creative business ideas and offered the university’s support in practical working environments. This award ceremony not only celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of the youth but also highlighted the community’s commitment to fostering innovation and job creation in the nation.
WISE provided a package of awards that includes, provision of seed money, credit opportunity from “Sinqe Bank” with low interest rate, packages of business training, and experience sharing from business firms for the top 25 winers. At the end WISE awarded 57,000 EBR seed money for top 10 winers.
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