. Ajuma Philip is a 22 year old who at first sight is very calm, soft spoken and welcoming. He shakes our hands with a firm grip and a bright smile as we exchange pleasantries on our first interaction. Ajuma quickly introduces himself as the proud owner of a newly built poultry house, he proceeds to show us his now second set of chicks (broilers) he bought recently to breed.

He is from Jiakoyia village where he was a former peasant depending on gardening as his sole income source. He heard about skills training in Flamino Vocational Institute where he applied and got admitted for poultry farming for 6 months.

It is during the training that he got life skills like saving, business management, and conflict management. He applies these skills to his growing poultry business and successfully sold off his first set of 180 grown broilers at 15,000 to 20,000 shs each. ’There’s ready market for my products like hotels, restaurants and households.

So I am very happy with my business, it is also easy to manage,’ said Ajuma. His second set of chicks is already in place as he’s caring for them with the availability of poultry equipment like disinfectants, feeding troughs, feeds, vaccinations and drinking troughs which he bought for himself soon after his first big sale of chicken.

Ajuma further explained that he is planning to upgrade his education and skills with the savings he is making from his poultry venture. Having had no skills at all with little or no income, he said, “We as youth need vocational skills instead of being idle at home or drinking alcohol and depending on our families when we cannot find jobs due to lack of skills…”