Building on the insights from our latest Skills Builder Forum, we are excited to spotlight the incredible work of Imagine Her, a non-profit organisation in Uganda dedicated to empowering rural women and youth through social entrepreneurship. During the session, James Otai, Co-founder and Director of Sustainability and Operations at Imagine Her, shared how his organisation is bridging the economic dependency gap by integrating the Skills Builder Universal Framework into their curriculum.

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The Power of the Global Impact Fellowship

Imagine Her addresses these challenges through their Social Enterprise Innovation Program, which focuses on three core pillars:

• Train: The team provides practical training in design and systems thinking to help participants identify and solve community problems.
• Invest: To overcome the hurdle of starting a business, the program provides zero-interest, "patient returnable capital".
• Grow: They offer ongoing enterprise support, helping entrepreneurs navigate markets and even connecting products, like organic fertilizers and coffee, to international buyers.

Since 2017, Imagine Her has trained 3,500 rural young women and youth, leading to the creation of over 900 sustainable social ventures.

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Scaling impact with the Universal Framework

As a graduate of the Skills Builder Global Impact Fellowship, James shared how the Universal Framework has been instrumental in refining their programs. Recently, Imagine Her’s curriculum achieved Level 4 Accreditation, demonstrating that their training effectively translates into real-world skill application.

James emphasised several key learnings from their journey:

• Localised Learning: Success requires delivering content in local languages and recruiting trainers from within the communities they serve.
• Intentionality: By auditing their curriculum with the Skills Builder team, Imagine Her now intentionally maps every session to skill steps from the Universal Framework.
• Measurable Outcomes: A recent survey of their entrepreneurs showed high scores in both skill acquisition and application.

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Looking Ahead

Imagine Her has set an ambitious goal: to reach 50,000 individuals through training and invest in 3,500 entrepreneurs by 2036. By focusing on essential skills, they are ensuring that rural entrepreneurs aren't just starting businesses to survive, but are creating ventures that thrive and provide jobs for others.

To learn more about how the Universal Framework can support your organisation's impact, explore our Global Impact Fellowship.