Turn These Holidays into a Launchpad: How Teenagers or Youths Can Learn a Skill or Start a Business
Every year, when schools close for the holidays, a familiar scene plays out across Uganda. Our children sleep in late, spend hours on their phones, and drift through the weeks with little to show for it by the time school resumes. But what if this holiday season were different? What if, instead of idling away precious time, our young people used these weeks to build something, a skill, a habit, or even a small business? This is what even the new curriculum is all about. Children should be great thinkers and innovators, and school holidays can be an avenue to practice what they learn from school.
The school holiday is not a gap in a teenager's life. It is an opportunity, arguably one of the greatest they will have before adult responsibilities close in. With no classes, no exams, and flexible time, a determined young person can accomplish more in six weeks than they realise. The question is not whether there is time. There is. The question is whether we, parents, guardians, and the teenagers themselves, will use it wisely.
Why
Skills Matter More Than Ever
Uganda has one of the
youngest populations in the world. That is both a blessing and a challenge.
Thousands of young people will enter a competitive job market in the coming
years, and academic certificates alone will not be enough. Employers and
customers increasingly value practical skills; the ability to do something
useful, solve a real problem, or create value. A teenager or a youth who learns
a skill today is investing in a future that the classroom alone cannot fully
prepare them for.
Fortunately, the
options are wider than most teenagers imagine. Skills can be digital — graphic
design, video editing, social media management, coding, or online freelancing.
They can be hands-on like tailoring, baking, hairdressing, carpentry, or
crafts. They can be service-oriented, such as tutoring younger children, event
ushering, car washing, or delivery errands. The starting point is not money or
connections. It is the willingness to learn.
Starting
Small: The Holiday Business Idea
Many of Africa's most
successful entrepreneurs started with nothing more than a simple idea and the
courage to try. A teenager/youth does not need a business plan or startup
capital to begin. They need observation; what does my neighbourhood need? What
service are people paying for? A young person who notices that homes in their
area need cleaning, that children need tutoring, or that people want fresh
juice and snacks in the morning has already done half the work. This means that
they are now transferring their school knowledge into practice. They are becoming
researchers and thinkers outside the box to solve societal problems.
One teenager in Kampala
recently spent her holiday baking mandazi and selling them to neighbours. By
the end of the holiday, she had earned enough to buy her own school supplies,
and more importantly, she had discovered that she could create income with her
own hands. That confidence is priceless. Another young man used free online
tutorials to learn basic graphic design and created logos for small businesses
in his community. He charged modest fees, built a portfolio, and returned to
school with a skill he continues to use. Even on campus now, this business has
sustained him, but it started when he was in high school on his own.
The
Role of Parents and Guardians
Parents must not be
passive during this season. Rather than simply monitoring screen time or
worrying about bad company, get involved. Ask your child what they are curious
about. Take them to a market, a workshop, or a family business and let them
observe how things work. Introduce them to someone in a trade or profession
they admire. A conversation with a mentor can spark a fire that lasts a
lifetime. This is what competency-based education is all about – a child who
can do something practical on their own.
It is also important to
let teenagers make small mistakes in a safe environment. If a young person
tries to sell something and fails, do not mock them. Help them understand why,
and encourage them to try again. Entrepreneurship is learned through
experience, not lectures. The holiday season offers that experience without the
high stakes of adult life.
A
Word to the Teenagers and Youth
To every young person
reading this: the world does not wait for anyone. The friends who will lead
industries, start companies, and shape communities in ten years are not waiting
for the perfect moment. They are using the time they have right now. You do not
need to start something big. Start something real. Learn one skill. Offer one
service. Read one book about business or a craft that interests you. Take one
step.
When school resumes,
let your holiday story be one of growth, not just rest. Let it be the story of
the holiday when you built something. That is a story worth telling. Take time to
learn a skill every holiday. You don’t have to waste your time on social media,
where you don’t learn anything that can be useful in your life.
Your parents may not
know what you want. But beyond academics, there is a passion or an interest you
have in something. Share that idea with them and ask how you can grow or expand
it into something tangible, a business idea, or do something that can earn you
an income, help the community, add a skill to you, and allow you to be very
productive every holiday or even at school.
The
writer is the Executive Director of Hope Regeneration Africa, Parenting Coach,
Marriage Counselor, and Founder — Men of Purpose Mentorship Program.
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