Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs (OVO) brings together Belgian companies, individuals and organisations to strengthen entrepreneurship in low- and middle-income countries. OVO does this by coaching promising entrepreneurs, giving them access to financing and collaborating with NGOs that support local projects.
Umicore, a core member of OVO since 2006, is one of the companies that has been fulfilling this commitment for many years. Among other things, it finances an education project run by VIA Don Bosco, an NGO partner of OVO.
‘We support Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs because we fully support the organisation's objectives,’ says Wouter Ghyoot, Vice President of Government Affairs at Umicore. ‘It is true that we prefer to choose projects that are related to our business or that are in line with our values. These could be, for example, a reforestation project or a photovoltaic activity, a technology for which we supply materials.’ It is therefore not surprising that Umicore supports educational institutions that organise training courses related to electricity and solar panels. This is a project run by VIA Don Bosco, one of OVO's NGO partners.
Focus on education
VIA Don Bosco is a Belgian NGO that has been committed to educating young people for more than fifty years. The organisation supports and finances technical schools and vocational training institutions worldwide with the aim of helping young people develop strong technical skills. And that is exactly what two schools in San Salvador are doing. One organises a one- or two-year training course for industrial electricians, the other a course in solar panel installation and maintenance. The courses are mainly intended for young people from difficult socio-economic backgrounds in areas where there is a high level of violence. The ultimate goal is to guide students towards salaried employment or entrepreneurship, which in turn ties in with one of OVO's most important objectives.
Even closer cooperation with NGOs
There are three ways to support OVO financially: you can finance a business in the form of a loan, you can make a donation to the OVO Acceleration Fund, which provides affordable loans to African businesses, or you can donate to a project run by one of the NGO partners. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs currently works with five NGOs, one of which is VIA Don Bosco. The intention is to collaborate more intensively with NGOs in the future on projects where entrepreneurship plays an important role and where OVO's expertise will be brought in to make the project stronger and more successful and to stimulate more entrepreneurship. Anyone who would like to know more or make a contribution is welcome to contact Karen Peersman (karen@ovo.be).
Article by Marc Van de Velde