At least 20 young women including eight teenage girls are undergoing intensive small business skills training in Wau town of South Sudan's Western Bahr el Ghazal state.

The two-week training, conducted by KIDO - a local organization, aim at equipping young women with life skills in the business sector. 

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday during the start of the training, some participants said they are excited to gain business skills that can sustain them and their families. 

“This small business training will help me a lot. As a girl, I have many basic needs. I need body oil, hair, soap, shoes, and underwear. These are things that I need and with a small business, I will not ask my family or father about soap,” Rosaline Adam said.  

"You use groundnut paste or whatever you have to run a small business to overcome other challenges. Especially for young girls, sometimes they pass through menstruation and that requires underwear and at school, they need pens and books,” said Mary Afo, another trainee encouraging women and girls to engage in business.

Mary Apindi, yet another trainee, called on young women also to do small businesses so that they can become self-reliant. 

"My advice to my friends and sisters is that they should involve in doing business such that they do not depend on gifts from their husbands," she added. 

For his part, KIDO Director Budgoni Stephen Musa urged the trainees that after the training, they should be tolerant and offer great customer service for their customers to grow their businesses . 

"All the business people in the market and those popular started with small things, so you have to be tolerant and after you become better through good relationship with your customers, you can become popular in your place of business," Musa advised. 

The training will conclude on 12 July 2022.