Business Training at the American Corner —Lee

As Kitty and I got involved in the American Corner (Embassy-sponsored center for developing various skills in English), I was invited to join a group of five young Tajiks to help design a template for training Tajiks for future business efforts.  This framework is hopefully going to be shared with other American Corners throughout Tajikistan (about 6 other locations at present).

Nearly 50% of the Tajikistan GNP is funded by remittances from Tajiks living and working abroad (mostly Russia). Training in how to help Tajiks be part of or run successful businesses may not only be helpful to them personally, but also helpful to extended families who often do not see the husband for six months or even two years at a time.

Fortunately they were open to my role being mostly advisory, since this training is only sustainable and replicable if led by Tajiks.

Here is Khurshed leading a discussion group during our initial session on Leadership:

Khurshed studied in the US for his business degree, and has formerly worked for USAID. He was able to integrate his western training with the cultural views of the students to nudge them toward excellence beyond the desired leadership characteristics initially mentioned such as "directive" and "controls people."

I was asked to facilitate a session on Personal Finance. Less than 2% of the people in Tajikistan have an awareness of what banking services are offered, and only half (yes, 1% of the population) has a bank account. The concept of saving is beyond imagination for most, since 30-60% of most Tajiks' income is spent on food. Still, for these students (most of whom are working on a degree, have decent understanding of English, and growing skills in using English), their opportunities to work, earn and make a plan for how they will use their income is greater than average.

Here I am explaining some group work that the students are to do in preparing a draft budget for a recent college graduate (most will live at home with family; even after marriage the couple normally lives with the husband's family).

We have 25-40 students in most of our sessions. 

This group working on a budget for a recent college graduate includes two of our leadership team, Rajabali (far left) and Khurshed (far right).

This group had animated discussions about how much should be spent on clothing (Tajiks dress very sharply!), food (how much should young adults go out to eat?), and gifts ("no--we're young, no one expects us to have money!").

I look forward to the next six weeks as we finalize various topics to be covered, as I deepen my friendships with those leading and participating in the group, and as skills are developed to help these participants better serve their families and their country.