As one way of equipping women in the country to be self-reliant, Skills and Technical Education Programme (STEP) Malawi has trained 34 women from Mchesi in Lilongwe with business skills that will help to transform their lives.

During the training, the women were trained on financial literacy, career and goal setting, business management, how to conduct surveys, market research, writing business plan, basic budgeting, saving and investing in your future, business money management and competition and price setting.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony Programme Assistant for STEP Rhodia Chadzunda encouraged the women to use the skills they have acquired.

“It is important that women should be financially independent. I want to encourage you to use the skills you have acquired. As a business person, you are supposed to identify your market, this will help you to know the right product or services to offer,” she explains.

According to Chadzunda, challenges in business are inevitable so she urged the women not to give up.

One of the graduates, Eneles Phiri hailed STEP Malawi for the initiative.

“I have been struggling financially and this training has come at the right time because I have learnt entrepreneurial skills. I will now be able to venture into a meaningful business. We started the training in November last year and I am happy that we have now graduated today on 12th February 2019,” she said.

Skills and Technical Education Programme (STEP) with funding from the European Union supports the entrepreneurship bursary program.

The aim of EU-STEP in this initiation, is to ensure that the women are leaders in business in their specific areas.