Who, What & Where
- Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (HNU)
- Applied Entrepreneurship Education Programme, AEEP
- Arba Minch, Ethiopia
The Organisation
- HNU is an international connected business school. It prepares students orientated towards future management tasks and runs different kinds of interdisciplinary projects in several African countries.
The Challenge
- Through its Applied Entrepreneurship Education Programme project, HNU focuses on entrepreneurial education with the objective to create job opportunities in Ethiopia.
Renewable Solution
- Collaboration with Arba Minch University in Ethiopia and industry partners such as Phaesun.
- Micro entrepreneurs were trained to build and maintain prototypes for diverse kind of businesses such as for productive use of energy.
- Business Opportunities with Solar Systems (BOSS) models were developed and constructed in Arba Minch, i.e. a solar-powered barber shop, cafeteria, charging station, ice cream shop, mobile city photography shop, ICT training center for rural areas and rural mobile photograph.
Project Financing & Management
- Project funding by the German Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development and are received from DAAD under the umbrella program “Industry partnerships 2013”.
- The program has a financial revolving mechanism. Micro entrepreneurs get materials for building the prototypes and are obligated to pay back all costs including a small extra fee within 2 years to the Arba Minch University, so the university can refinance the program with the repayments.
Outcome & Next Steps
- Creation of jobs with sustainable income for people who were previously jobless.
- Rural businesses have also improved the quality of life of the villagers.
- The long-term training program has enabled the Arba Minch University to deliver outstanding community services.
- Potentially single micro businesses will be scaled up in the form of a production facility and a similar or adapted project version will be implemented in a further University in Ethiopia and potentially South Africa.