By Our Reporter
Businessman Patrick Bitature has rolled out a new program aimed at empowering and positively impacting the youth.
Through his NGO, the Patrick and Carol Bitature Foundation, he has started an initiative dubbed “Project 500K” targeting to influence 500,000 young Ugandans, aged between 18 and 35, as they begin their careers by changing their mindset and building the skills needed to be employable or run a successful business.
Speaking about the genesis of “Project 500K”, Bitature noted that he wanted to create something that will have a lasting impact on the young generation.
“Rather than do philanthropic work all over the place in a haphazard manner, I decided let me build a team and structure so it has longevity, mainly to target 500,000 youth,” he explained. “You can connect with any of these 500,000 youth and see that you have touched their lives in a measurable way, either to help them in their entrepreneurial journey, or with their job search, or career. We want to empower them, to change their mindsets so they can see life differently.”
Project 500K will be executed through three channels including weekly youth camps, daily SMS messages and a radio talk show over a period of 8 weeks with a different theme tackled weekly, from self-assessment and goal setting, to budgeting, investment, long term planning, problem solving and generating creative ideas. Following the eight-week programme, participants will have access to a catalogue of partners and resources through the different partnerships Project 500K is building with other organizations that work on youth empowerment in Uganda.
A pilot project will run in Ibanda District through the months of September and October, 2017, with over 2000 members already signed up. Project 500K will then to expand to Western Uganda by the year’s end, reach Kampala in early 2018, and expand to the rest of Uganda in the months and years to come.