TRADE EXHIBITION GIVES HOPE TO GULU BUSINESS YOUTH
The Omweleso event was organized by Innovation Village in partnership with the Creative Jam Network.
By Christopher Nyeko
GULU: Youth in Gulu City who have ventured into various businesses have reason to smile as innovation village has initiated a monthly market dubbed Omweleso, a Luganda word literally translated as exhibition.
In a bid to change the social-economic status of the youth in Northern Uganda, Innovation Village has initiated the monthly market so the youth can bring their products and services for exhibition.
During the exhibition, business experts and a number of facilitators are brought in to discuss with the youth how they can expand their businesses.
On Saturday, the village held the third edition of the Omweleso, where about 30 youth with various businesses attended and plenty of products were exhibited, among them agro-processed products, art and craft, paintings, textiles, groceries, and cosmetics.
Nakwasa Robinson, the community manager for Northern Uganda Innovation Village, however, faults the majority of youth in Acholi for their laziness and failure to utilize their available fertile ground for business, instead spending their money on buying liabilities.
Wanirwoth Phionah, one of the exhibitors and founder of Living Hope Foundation, the community-based organization in Gulu City dealing with training youth on hands-on skills, says the expo provided her with the opportunity to connect with many clients even though she did not adequately make sales of her product (school chalks).
Opiyo Silas, an artisan, says the exhibition exposes his business to the whole world because the organizers advertise for the event digitally.
The Omweleso event was organized by Innovation Village in partnership with the Creative Jam Network.
Onencan Freddy, the coordinator of Creative Jam Network, told this publication that they opted to partner with the villages so that the number of youth who are in the creative industry is brought into the limelight. The fact that numbers of youth in northern Uganda are enriched with dancing skills, poetry, and music, however, has never been promoted.
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