Monrovia — At the grand final of the National Pitch Competition of the JA Africa Social Equity Program (JA-SEP) held Monday, October 6, 2025, Passionate Entrepreneurs of the Orange Digital Center came out with flying colors ahead of the other nine finalists to win the first prize.
JA-SEP is powered by the European Institute for Cooperation and Development (IECD) Liberia, in partnership with JA Africa and Tera Lead, with funding from the Z Zurich Foundation and AFD (the French Development Agency).
Under the program, 15 boot camps were conducted across five technical, vocational educational training (TVET) centers including (BWI, AVTP/Maryann Cheeseman, BDOTC, MVTC, LOIC) and the Orange Digital Center. These boot camps equipped over 1,500 youth with entrepreneurial skills and provided them with the opportunity to design and develop their own youth-led social impact projects.
After months of intensive training and coaching, the 10 most outstanding projects met the benchmark to present at the National Pitch Competition, with the champion team (Passionate Entrepreneurs) earning the honor of representing Liberia at the AfrInnovate Youth Challenge in December 2025.
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The top three winners were also awarded prizes and support to bring their ideas to life.
Team Eclat and Camp Preneurs, both of whom are also from the Orange Digital Center, won second and third place respectively.
In brief remark at the pitching program, the Project Manager of European Institute for Cooperation and Development (IECD), Madam Mathilde Bouton, explained that the first, second and third place winners automatically won US$3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 respectively.
Delving into the importance of the program, the Country Director of IECD, Guillaume Desjonqueres, explained that the initiative aims to provide young Liberians with access to opportunities for learning, working, and building a dignified life by focusing on inclusion and restoring confidence, rather than just business plans.
He indicated that a key focus was ensuring the program was integrated into the Liberian TVET system, with activities hosted at various training centers.
"The success of the project is attributed to the collaboration and trust of partners and donors, particularly the Z Foundation and AP, along with support from AFD," he stated.
TeraLead CEO, Mrs. Rosy Choudhury, reminded youth that they are the future of the country and as such, they must continue their stride in pursuit of excellence and for the greater good of Liberia.
Like young people across other parts of Africa, the TeraLead CEO believes that Liberian youth too, have the energy to push for a successful future and be wherever they want to be.
"I have seen and felt the immense energy of the youth in Liberia. That is what motivated me to start the TeraLead Future Ready Program," said Rosy Choudhury at the inaugural session of the final Pitch Competition in the Afrinnovate Youth Challenge.
The Director of the Orange Digital Center (ODC), Zaza Mulbah, highlighted the center's mission to equip young people with digital and entrepreneurship skills.
He disclosed that the ODC recently celebrated three years and has trained over 12,000 young adults since its inception.
Specifically, Mr. Mulbah indicated that a recent six-week collaboration with IECD saw the training of over 352 young Liberians in entrepreneurship, noting that 35.7% of the participants were female.
The ODC Director emphasized the importance of collaboration in achieving significant results, adding that ODC's work, which includes hubs in Gbarnga and Maryland can be replicated across the country.
AFD Country Representative, Eliot Sotty, extolled IECD and its co-implementers for the successfully leading the program to its final stage.
Mr. Sotty vowed his Agency's commitment to supporting meaningful youth programs, which according to him, are one of the major goals of AFD.
For her part, ECOWAS Ambassador to Liberia, Josephine Nkrumah, urged Liberian youth to exhibit hard work and integrity as core values to the foundation of their businesses/activities. These, she said are essential for sustained progress, and without which, a business may be launched but not flourish.
The ECOWAS envoy pointed out that simply being "okay" is insufficient for successful enterprises; instead, one must maintain a constant pursuit of excellence by striving to improve products and service delivery daily.
She noted that by adhering to these principles will ultimately lead to business success.
Participants' Testimonies
The final pitch competition also provided the opportunity for participants/beneficiaries to share their experience with the audience.
"I have learned the importance of leadership and understanding a good business strategy. By being more mindful of other's feelings. My new found experience with emotional intelligence, I am able to provide more support and be a source of positivity change in my community. I have also learned the business template through Teralead and IECD," said Mariam Trawalley, a student of the Boker Washington Institute or BWI.
"Now I can contribute by creating a business in my community and the Country at large. Therefore, on behalf of team Confidence we are grateful to IECD and Teralead for the knowledge they impacted. We have engendered that the knowledge will not be shelved. The community will be impacted through skills training opportunities (baking, tailoring, soap making, etc.) that is affordable to anyone."
"We learnt about leadership, emotional intelligence, team work, financial awareness, entrepreneurship and work readiness as major take aways. These contents have helped youth identify their latent skills, values, qualities and worth. Participants acknowledged that SEP is an educative and inspiring platform. They hope for continuation of SEP in various institutions to prepare more entrepreneurs," narrated Tibitha Neihne of the Monrovia Vocational Training Center (MVTC).
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Key Highlights of The Program
The program stood out for its well-structured and participatory approach, promoting creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving among youth.
The program has so far been regarded as successful as facilitated sessions were highly interactive and impactful, enabling participants to apply entrepreneurial concepts to real community challenges and problem-solving approaches.
During the course of the program, participants developed viable business ideas, enhanced self-confidence and improved their communication, leadership and collaboration skills.
The certificate served as a key motivator, increasing participants' sense of accomplishment and commitment to entrepreneurship.
Accordingly, the Social Equity Program has made meaningful progress in empowering young Liberians with entrepreneurial, leadership and innovation skills. With 15 boot camps completed and 10 youth teams receiving seed funding, the program continues to build confidence, creativity and resilience among participants--transforming ideas into tangible business ventures.
However, technical, contextual and resource limitations--particularly in online learning and post-training mentorship--need to be addressed. By adapting the program to local realities, strengthening mentorship and improving resource access, future cohorts can achieve deeper and more sustainable impact in promoting youth entrepreneurship and self-reliance across Liberia.
