Enablis East Africa network of entrepreneurs created a total of 3,700 jobs in 2010, up from 1,659 in 2009 an annual independent member survey has revealed.
The Independent Annual Survey, conducted in February 2011, for the third consecutive year by research company Research in Action across Enablis’ 500-strong membership indicated that each entrepreneur in the network created an average of 7.4 jobs up 6.5 jobs the previous year, across all sectors of the economy.
Commenting at the launch of the survey, Mr. Ali Mufuruki, Chairman of Enablis East Africa said: “We are delighted at the positive results that we are seeing through this annual survey. Our membership has grown to the 500 member milestone from 222 entrepreneurs in 2009. This is a huge achievement for a young organization such as ours, but more importantly, is that our members are creating more jobs year on year.”
“These results demonstrated that great things are possible when entrepreneurs receive the necessary support such as skills, knowledge and networking opportunities such as the once provided by Enablis. We believe that entrepreneurs can have a tremendous impact on socio-economic development of the East Africa region.”
The Enablis’ package of services for entrepreneurs is based largely on the Chase Bank Enablis Annual Business Launchpad Competition, which draws members to Enablis as a platform for networking, capacity building and financing.
Enablis Africa Chief Operating Officer, Moses Mwaura, said, “We are very happy to see the membership across our country chapters growing so quickly in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. Additionally, the results of annual survey help to confirm that our programmes add value to entrepreneurs in our network. We continue to strive to best serve the needs of our members and provide them with necessary access to skills development and networking.”
Mrs. Christine Dusabe is Enablis East Africa’s 500th member. Mrs. Dusabe is the owner of Rwanda Processing Lumen, a cassava food processing business in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwanda Processing Lumen specializes in purchasing cassava produce from farmer’s cooperatives in the region and processing it into starch and high quality cassava flour, the staple food in the region. In addition, the company also grows its own cassava for processing. Mrs. Dusabe came to Enablis which helped her to build critical business skills, knowledge and gave her networking opportunities with other entrepreneurs.
About Enablis Entrepreneurial Network
Enablis Entrepreneurial Network is a member-based organisation that exists throughout the African continent. Enablis was launched at the G8 meeting in 2002 and founded by Accenture and Telesystem, in collaboration with the Government of Canada. The Enablis Entrepreneurial Network East Africa a non-profit organisation geared at leveraging and supporting entrepreneurial talent.
Enablis is driven by its professional network of entrepreneurs, governed by a sense of social sharing and networking. Enablis gives these entrepreneurs the opportunity to interact with one another through the Enablis platform and thereby to increase their capacity for entrepreneurial success. Enablis facilitates entrepreneurial skills development, access to finance, professional networking, and mentoring to ensure economic stimulation and entrepreneurial sustainability.
Enablis engages with entrepreneurs in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and Argentina and has more than 1,500 entrepreneur members. In East Africa, Enablis currently has four hubs in Nairobi, Kisumu, Dar es Salaam and Kigali. Enablis East Africa partners are Safaricom, Chase Bank, and NMB Bank in Tanzania.
