School Leavers Opportunity Training (SLOT)

The School Leavers Opportunity Training Programme (SLOT) presents unemployed youth in Namibia the opportunity to obtain basic business skills to start and run a business profitably, allow opportunity for strengthening vocational skills and be mentored. The programme runs over a period of 10 months. The total number of young people involved gets divided into four groups per camp to ensure effective implementation. The groups have a competitive edge during the training.
The programme’s main objective is to get the participants interested in taking up the challenge of unemployment and become employment creators.

The SLOT programme is presented in four phases:
PHASE ONE - Building the person this phase is presented in a residential camp for 5 days. The go through team building exercises, communications skills training, career decision making, confidence building
PHASE TWO - Basic Business Skills immediately upon completion of the first phase, the participants continue with the Business Establishment and Sustainability Programme (BESP). They are trained over a period of 7 days in which they obtain the following skills. Problem Solving, marketing, advertising, costing and pricing, market research, setting up a small business and manage it to become profitable
PHASE THREE - Vocational Training after assessment and where necessary to strengthen the business aspirations, SLOT select vocational training interventions to assist the participant. The participants are placed at vocational training centres, depending on the skills necessary for strengthening the skills.
PHASE FOUR - Mentoring the start-up businesses are mentored by assigned mentors until the participant’s programme participation expires after 10 months.

The programme’s period is over 10 months. The success rate is anticipated at 40% of the intake of participants e.g. 40 small businesses established and run successfully. Some participants might want to be included in the job market for an internship to improve existing skills or a learner ship where the participant learns through job shadowing, which optimise employability. The participant signs a contract of inclusion in the programme to minimise ascension.

The participant should utilise the opportunity to continue with the business after being assigned a “Big Brother Business” where possible to further mentoring support. JA Namibia believes in young people given the opportunity to empower themselves to reach their full potential.