Impact Stories & Blogs

Gerald Ahimbisibwe, Uganda – Cohort 39

My name is Gerald Ahimbisibwe, the president and CEO of the ability youth initiative Uganda (TAYINU). TAYINU is a youth led non-profit  organisation which envisage  building a cohort of self-reliant young leaders contributing to the growth of the African continent .We are working across Uganda with young people especially those in universities to forefront societal change in areas of education, financial inclusion ,livelihood and civic spaces. Since its inception, TAYINU has been incorporated fully and now operates legally.

My leadership journey has greatly improved after my experience at YALI RLC EA .The opportunity to undergo training at YALI RLC EA has enriched me especially in managing relationships, clients ,stakeholders and resources mobilisation. Meeting a network of like-minded people who are willing to push growth of the continent .After the training at the YALI Regional Leadership Center East Africa, I was empowered to build and manage a cohesive team. We have built a ten-year strategy which termed as Construct Africa. Construct Africa will impact 10000 young people in 10 years in areas of education and financial inclusion .Through Construct Africa, we have impacted over 1000 young people through the career guidance and mentorship program . A program that works with Uganda’s remote secondary schools to offer career guidance ,in career and choice ,youth digitisation and soft skills training ,information sharing and bridging youth to affordable ,accessible and equitable education opportunities .

With the surge of COVID- 19 and closure of schools ,the program is running online and impacting over 500 young people currently. We have also launched a new program ,"the ability youth economic empowerment program which focuses on financial inclusion of young people at university and those that dropped out from university. The program focuses on savings and investments and we are offer non collateral security but secure and affordable financial services through our CGS (campus group savings ).

Our primary goal is to ensure that young people can save ,invest and scale there by creating opportunity for work for themselves and for others .We set up a target of 1000 youth in 10 years and 100 per year and since March we have 51 young people enrol to our program .However, this pandemic has limited our resources and we are currently looking for more partnerships to enable us to scale our impact to the grassroot .

We acknowledge the continuous support from YALI through partners like USAID, and Mastercard Foundation, Deloitte and Kenyatta University  for this great impact. The YALI RLC EA initiative is a program that the youths should leverage for growth opportunities and more financial support to see Africa at the height .