Green Jobs | Work In Progress

Mutoba Ngoma
Founder and CEO of Tapera Bio Industries Limited, he received entrepreneurship training as part of the ILO’s Youth Employment Project in Zambia.

As the sun comes up over Lusaka, a city I share with 2 million others, business is well under way and has been since 3 a.m. The trucks carrying produce from the farms around the city are the first to arrive in the early hours before I wake.

As soon as I do, I am up and out, looking for new contacts and investments to help support and grow my bio-fuel company. Such is the life of a young entrepreneur in this town. Every day is a new opportunity to meet the challenges of keeping a small business alive.

I’m 28 but first started my business in 2006 when I was 21, after being inspired by a TV documentary on renewable energy in Brazil. I put the project on hold for a while to work as an aircraft technician at Zambian Airways Limited. However, they went out of business and I came back to the bio-fuel idea. My alternatives were few, as formal, decent employment opportunities are hard to come by in my country. In fact, a vast majority of young workers are in the informal economy. Continue reading →

Iselin Danbolt

By Iselin Danbolt, Brand Management and Marketing Officer, Department of Communication and Public Information

With trepidation I stepped on a plane to Hollywood to meet with – let’s face it – some of the world’s most famous workers in their natural habitat. We live in a world where we are infinitely fascinated by celebrities. Who wears what, who has had cosmetic surgery and who’s dating who are questions you will often find people discussing. I can’t judge, as I am also one of them.

And although I would love to share more details in response to the questions above, I was more interested in finding out about what the industry thought about the ILO. Continue reading →