UNESCO-UNEVOC and HP LIFE: Promoting skills for work and life

As the world of work undergoes major transformations, entrepreneurial learning remains relevant in offering a realistic and achievable means of developing transferable skills that society and the labour market expects of today’s citizens. Entrepreneurial learning in TVET aims to promote creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset which equips youth with the necessary skills to access and thrive in the world of work while supporting their personal development.

The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET recognizes the importance of enabling entrepreneurship as a driver for growth, innovation, job creation and achieving sustainable development. It works to develop the skills of TVET trainers to provide TVET trainees with real-life, active learning experiences to acquire entrepreneurial skills. These skills are required by TVET trainees to innovate, be more resilient, agile, flexible to uncertainties and solve the most pressing problems in society.

Promoting Innovation, Employability and Entrepreneurship among Youth

A UNESCO-UNEVOC and HP LIFE partnership

The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training and HP LIFE have partnered to promote innovation, employability and entrepreneurship among youth, with focus on the African region.

HP LIFE is a global training programme from the HP Foundation. It gives people all over the world the opportunity to build skills for the future — whether they want to start or grow their own business, enter the workforce, or secure a better job — by providing access to free, accessible IT and business skills training courses in eight languages (Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish).

The courses are self-paced, modular, interactive and full of information and practical exercises that enable you to develop the skills you need for a successful future, at a time and place that suits you.

The proposed courses include:

• Successful Mindset
• Starting a Small Business
• Design Thinking
• Selling Online
• Cash Flow
• Finding Funding
• Circular Economy
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Effective Business Websites
• Social Media Marketing

The programme targets

1. TVET trainees and graduates looking to improve their entrepreneurial competences for a successful future; and,
2. TVET trainers, educators, and mentors looking for an adaptable educational resource to enrich curricula, support business creation, and improve employability skills.

Start HP LIFE training

Webinar recording

Note: The Kick-off webinar was conducted in English only, while the online entrepreneurship courses are provided in 8 languages.

Kick-off webinar, 24 May 2023

14:00 - 14:10: Welcome remarks from UNESCO-UNEVOC, Commitment to building entrepreneurial skills

• Friedrich Huebler, Head of Office, UNESCO-UNEVOC

• Markus Schwertel, Lead Government Affairs & Public Policy EMEA Markets, HP Deutschland GmbH

• Jan Svihlik, Team Leader, Private Sector Engagement, UNESCO-UNEVOC

• Priscilla Gatonye, Programme Officer, Inclusion and Youth, UNESCO-UNEVOC

• Cherubim Mawuli (Digital Mawuli), President, Strategic Imperative (STRIMPE)

• Jacqueline Kisato, Mentor in Business Innovation, Incubation and Advisory Board Member, Lecturer at Kenyatta University and Master Trainer: Student Training on Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP)

15:55 - 16:00 Closing remarks

• Priscilla Gatonye, Programme Officer, Inclusion and Youth, UNESCO-UNEVOC

Guest speakers

Cherubim Mawuli Amenyedor, Founder and President, Strategic Imperative (STRIMPE)

Cherubim Mawuli Amenyedor is a digital marketing and digital transformation strategist with over 10 years experience in crafting and executing successful digital campaigns and initiatives. He holds a master’s in marketing Strategy (University of Ghana, Accra) and a second master’s in digital marketing (Robert Gordon University, UK). He is the founder and President of STRIMPE (Strategic Imperative), a digital transformation consultancy uniquely serving African academia and industry. He has worked on projects for global brands such as Twitter, British Council, StarTimes, Budweiser, Borussia Dortmund, GCB Bank, Birkbeck University of London and Digital Scotland. He is passionate about digital and youth inclusion, as well as social and digital transformation.

Jacqueline Kisato, Mentor in Business Innovation, Incubation & Advisory Board Member; Lecturer at Kenyatta University and Master Trainer: Student Training on Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP)

Jacqueline Kisato is an academic, master trainer, mentor and researcher on innovative entrepreneurship and digital marketing. She has international master trainer qualifications in entrepreneurship and has trained trainers in Universities and TVETs across several African countries in partnership with UNESCO and Leuphana University, Germany. She has also published book chapters and scholarly papers in refereed journals, with a particular focus on the thematic areas of entrepreneurship, social marketing, and the inclusion of underserved groups in entrepreneurial ventures. Jacqueline has worked for 10+ years in academia and serves as an advisory board member in a leading ICT company in Kenya. She holds an M.B.A. (Marketing) and a Ph.D. in E-Marketing from Kenyatta University. She is a visiting scholar at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a principal investigator in several internationally funded projects seeking to enhance entrepreneurial success across different value chains.