How Africa Matters Helped me Get a Job

I attended a day long YLDP workshop which was held by Africa Matters in collaboration with SunEko Ethiopia at Col.John C. Robinson American Center, Addis Ababa. Different topics were raised at the workshop including concept of leadership, soft skills, social entrepreneurship, design thinking, business canvas model and youth advocacy. Before the training I had a wrong interpretation of leadership. I used to think, leadership is all about leading a country or be a manager of huge company. But Africa Matters helped me to understand that leaders are those who believe in themselves and make others believe in what they dream about to work and achieve common goals. In the workshop, we assessed ourselves in which category of leadership style we are grouped in and most of us exhibit different leadership style in different conditions. There were questions that helped us to realize who we are, who we want to be, what we are good at, what others think of us and what we do think of ourselves. Even though some of the questions were what we were afraid to answer, we've shared our experiences and feelings in the group and learned from it such as public speaker and we enjoyed practicing it. She also gave us hints about conflict resolution and problem solving. The very interesting topic, social entrepreneurship was discussed and Thato Kgathanye's innovation of repurpose school bags were mentioned as an exemplary work. We as a group identified our community problems and came up with some solutions, which helped us to develop critical thinking and gave us a better understanding about business canvas model. I was a fresh graduate and was looking for a job at a time, I attended Africa Matters workshop. Farai shared with us her own life experience about how she branded herself for job opportunities. That really helped me to get the job I have right now. Luck might have played a role but I was very good on the interview and the tips I've got from Africa Matters have been very useful. I was recently appointed a lead for the Ethiopia Youth Leadership Development Program, which was a very happy news for me and I believe, I'm on my way to influence my community by sharing what I've learnt on Africa Matters and other programs for my family and friends and I'm also attending and coordinating Human Rights and Dignity training organized by a member of World Youth Alliance additional to my regular responsibilities and different volunteering activities.