With a grant from USADF, Foundation for Youth Initiative has supported Gum Enterprise’s Torit Gum Arabic Capacity Building Project that invested in agro-processing of Gum Arabic. The goal of the project was to improve the standard of living of 300-low-income gum Arabic producers in Eastern Equatoria State of South Sudan with the purpose to improve GE’s prospects for sustained expansion as indicated by the development of comprehensive five-year business, improved financial management, improved good governance and improved technical operational capacity.
Foundation for Youth Initiative has provided demand-driven training and technical assistance on numerous topics including Enterprise Development and Marketing; Quality Control and Gum Harvesting; Sustainable Agriculture and Gum Production; Silvicultural Best Practices; Governance Training and Systems Development; Financial Management Systems Development; Administrative and Operational Systems Development; Brand Development and Marketing Plan and 5-Year Business Plan Development.
Now, Gum Enterprises has improved its prospects for sustained expansion as indicated by the development of a comprehensive five-year business plan that deems suitable for funding by a donor or other financial institutions, improved financial management, improved business management capacity, improved technical and operational capacity and improved marketing capacity. It also helped increase farmers’ income by almost $720,000, increased agricultural investments by $400,000, and supported 800 farmer members and external members.