My experience at CEED Concordia

This article was written by Samirath Gbegan – Youth Entreprenuership Project Intern, 2023

During this Summer 2023, I had the opportunity to intern at CEED Concordia in the Youth Entrepreneurship Project.

The Youth Entrepreneurship Project designed by CEED Concordia, has been tackling the problem of youth unemployment in Gulu, Uganda since 2016 by focusing on young entrepreneurs aged 18-30. The program aims at empowering young entrepreneurs with soft and hard skills through business training and workshops. At the end of the training, business groups take part in a competition where three businesses are awarded a grant?.

CEED Concordia is a non-profit organization based both in Montreal and Gulu. As its acronym indicates (Community| Empowerment| Education| Development), the organization is dedicated to social justice, community empowerment, and breeding change agentship among the youth. CEED seeks to recognise and identify challenges faced by the youth and build their capacity as means of adding efforts toward fostering change.

For three months, I had the privilege to work in a dynamic team of five interns dedicated to empowering young people through self-employment. Together, we selected business groups and organized workshops in order to equip them with entrepreneurial skills, then moved on to the pitching competition where we rewarded the three best companies on the basis of their written business plan and presentation.

My experience at CEED Concordia allowed me to grow not only professionally, but also personally. I’ve had the chance to meet incredible people, create bonds and create unforgettable memories!✨️