Benjamin Rukwengye, Founder and Chief Executive of Boundless Minds, one of the beneficieries and Melkamu Abebe, General Manager CCBA handing over the dummy cheque at CCBA today
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Uganda, in partnership with Boundless Minds, has today launched season III of the Elevate programme aimed at promoting economic inclusion of young people by empowering them through mentorship.
Elevate Season three is designed to fill the vacuum created by the Covid-19 disruption in the education calendar to empower youth engaged between 15-25 with work ready skills. The successful students will undergo specialized training and mentorship on work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
Commenting on the program, Benjamin Rukwengye, Founder and Chief Executive of Boundless Minds said, “This year, the mentorship program seeks to recruit a core cohort of 100 mentees who will then each mentor at least 25 peers creating a ripple effect. This cohort model enables us to create online profiles of all the programme alumni, to offer continuous mentorship and career support. Through this model, we plan to bring the total number of 2022 mentees to 2,500.”
“Today as we are celebrating our fifth anniversary, we are excited to be partnering with Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda to continue empowering and supporting youth. We have received great testimonies from youth that participated in the past seasons and are hopeful for the future,” he added.
Topics and Themes Facilitators and Mentors are expected to cover a number of interesting and relevant topics such as pitching and presentation, career mapping, CV writing and Job interview skills, Public Speaking Writing skills (Email, Blogging (Micro), Report and Minute Writing Digital skills and opportunities Marketing and Branding (Personal and Business) Financial Literacy.
Speaking at the launch today, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda General Manager Melkamu Abebe, applauded Boundless Minds for their passion towards youth empowerment and reiterated the company’s commitment to the same.
“Youth are the future of the workforce; we are happy to be making our contribution in getting them prepared for the work world. It’s often said, create the reality you want to see, our partnership with Boundless Minds is enabling just that. Youth empowerment is an important aspect of our agenda,” he said.
“As part of our initiatives, we also have the “Graduate Trainee Program’ where university graduates across the country get hands-on on job training and mentorship from our staff. A number of these graduates end up being recruited as staff in the long run. I am a beneficiary of the same program and can attest to the power of mentorship in my own professional growth,” he said.
The Elevate program has benefited over 1,600 youth since its inception in 2020 with more to benefit this year.
During the mentorship program, University clinics will be designed to extend career and life mentorship opportunities to university communities. They plug into the mini clinics conducted by the Peer Mentors, supporting them with experts and professionals.
“The role of a leader is to create more leaders. If we do this right, then we make a big difference in the lives of the young people and economy at large,” he concluded.
