In February, Sydney School of Entrepreneurship (SSE) delivered a two-day intensive workshop on financial literacy and entrepreneurship, Invest in Yourself: Exploring Money & Self Employment, to 28 members of the Ezidi community aged 15-35 in Armidale.
The Invest in Yourself program, delivered in partnership with the Department of the Regional NSW New England North West (DRNSW), aims to increase self-agency, independence, and economic prosperity by teaching participants about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, budgeting, and self-employment.
SSE worked collaboratively with Mosaic Multicultural Connections, and members of the Ezidi community to customise the course content, ensure it was culturally relevant, and build a safe learning environment where students could participate with confidence.
The students were especially excited to hear from Ziyad Gharbi, a local Ezidi entrepreneur, during the program. Ziyad arrived in Australia in February 2020, and started his own lawn and gardening business in 2022. He shared his story about starting a business, along with some tips from his experiences and encouragement for the students to pursue alternative pathways to achieve self-determination.
By the end of the program, students expressed new enthusiasm for alternative employment pathways and how they intend to apply their learnings. Our post-course self-assessments identified that 78% of participants felt ‘somewhat’ to ‘extremely confident’ taking next steps to start their own business.
“I got new ideas and learned things I haven’t been taught before. It taught me a lot about how to manage money and taking a business idea and making into my own business.” (Ghassan Aldakhi)
“[The program] gave me lots of ideas and showed me how to take small ideas and then make them into something big.” (Salwa Muhi)
