Congo/ Entrepreneurship: the "Loboko ya patriarche" campaign targets 500,000 workers

The general coordinator of Génération auto-entrepreneur (GAE), Digne Elvis Tsalissan Okombi, launched the "Loboko ya patriarche" campaign in Brazzaville on February 16, handing out work tools to 1,000 young workers in various informal sectors.

The symbolic handover of work tools to butchers, mechanics, masons, refrigeration engineers, welders, carpenters, sheet metal workers, electricians, plumbers, air conditioning installers, dressmakers and hairdressers took place at the town hall in Brazzaville's sixth arrondissement, Talangaï.lectricians, plumbers, air conditioning technicians, dressmakers and hairdressers took place at the town hall in Brazzaville's sixth arrondissement, Talangaï. The event brought together a large number of young people from all over the city. "The reinforcement of the Génération auto-entrepreneur project by the "Loboko ya patriarche" campaign aims to strengthen the capacity of more thans of over 500,000 Congolese in training, equipping with work tools, financing projects and incubating all those who, from the depths of their aspiration, need the protective hand of the patriarch to help, boost and accompany them in their desire for empowerment", said Digne Elvis Tsalissan Okombi. He announced that the campaign to provide work tools would continue in the country's other departments.

Not expecting such a gesture, the beneficiaries had the right words to thank GAE, its leaders, the association's honorary president and the patriarch, none other than the Head of State, Denis Sassou N'Guesso. "For me, mechanics is a job I chose out of love. As there are no limits to work, anyone can do what they feel capable of undertaking. The gift I received from GAE is going to support me a lot, especially as I was in need of tools. I'd like to thank the coordinator for this gesture to us workers", said mechanic Elisabeth Ngondo, after receiving her work kit.

Digne Elvis Tsalissan Okombi, speaking on behalf of GAE's honorary president, appealed to all those who look to Denis Sassou N'Guesso as a role model to realize that poverty around you makes everyone poor. " So let's look around us at the young people who need our support, the women who need our support, and in the name of the patriarch, let's get out of our comfort zones to help, to reach out to those who, beyond the will to do, really need our support", he invited.

According to him, March will be the epicenter of GAE's action, especially in favor of Congolese women. " We'll have to put our hearts into it to stand alongside the women of our country", stressed GAE's general coordinator, encouraging young people to become entrepreneurs.

He also recalled that, in initiating the GAE project, its creators had a single objective: to leave the world of theory behind, and stop dwelling on capacity-building seminars and interminable results-based management. "We had to reach out to the people, listen to their aspirations, and reach out to young people to take the time to inspire them to dream. The dream of an educated, enterprising, dynamic and daring youth in search of an ideal and a future. We had to reach out to the women who hold the first cell of our society, those who educate our children, who give them a vision of the future, a future that is optimistic", concluded Digne Elvis Tsalissan Okombi.

The "Loboko ya patriarche" campaign, otherwise known as "La main ou la générosité du patriarche" in French, is part of the "Matissa affaire" project developed by GAE over the past few months. The aim is, among other things, to strengthen the operational capacities of young people already in business.

Source: www.adiac-congo.com/