Kayiira using his enterprise to skill youth

Dec 03, 2020

He says mechanic skills are more practical than theoretical that anyone passionate about cars and repairing them, can learn the skills from any garage that avails the opportunity.

SKILLING |COVID-19

The Covid 19 crisis caused many people to lose their jobs and among these were youth.

However, those who have got to understand the importance of having hands-on skills have decided to find places where they can be skilled in different areas.

One of those skills is mechanics skills that Moses Kayiira, a mechanic at Bakayiira diesel garage is offering to youth at his garage.

He says mechanic skills are more practical than theoretical that anyone passionate about cars and repairing them, can learn the skills from any garage that avails the opportunity.

He adds that because of that, he has been offering such skills to interested youth so that they can acquire skills and then use them to employ themselves and others.

He is currently skilling over 20 youth at his garage. The youth study in shifts due to the Covid-19 situation where standard operating procedures are to be observed.

John Mugabo is one of the youths being skilled at Bakayiira diesel garage. He says he used to work in a plastics shop but during the lockdown, his boss asked him to stay home until further notice.

"To-date I have never been called back to work. So I decided to learn a hands-on skill that I will turn into a job opportunity and may be employ other people," says Mugabo.

Mugabo is thankful to Kayiira for allowing him to acquire the skills for free.

"Even after the 2-3 months of learning, I have been told that I can stay at the garage and work as a mechanic so that I earn an income," he adds.

Muhamad Mwesigwa is another youth learning mechanic skills at Bakayiira garage. He hopes that after the training he will work at the same garage and try to raise capital to start his own garage.

The car that he modified to Uganda 2
The car that he modified to Uganda 2



Challenges

Kayiira notes that much as he is helping youth to acquire skills in mechanics, his resources are limited.  He says after the training, he cannot retain all the youth.

He reveals that last year, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni visited his workshop and appreciated him for the great work he is doing. He promised to fund his skilling initiative, and he is still waiting for the funds.

He hopes that when the presidential support comes, he will be able to train a big number of youth and even give them work machines as startup capital upon completion.

Who is Kayiira

He is a young Ugandan who is passionate about cars. He is very innovative in the way he does his work and he is one of the Ugandans who have managed to fabricate a car called Uganda one which he later modified to Uganda 2.


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