SMALL GRANTS STORIES : Octa Formation

COVID-19 Response / Articles / 18-01-2023

In late 2019, we created Octa Formation, a professional-development business in Mahdia that works with local youth, start-ups, and associations. Octa Formation provides market research and management consulting, as well as a range of training activities, including in entrepreneurship, soft skills, and English language.

Right after we launched, however, COVID-19 hit, putting Octa Formation in a difficult situation. We soon realized that in order to survive and thrive, we needed to diversify – and we found plenty of opportunities to do so.

In the summer of 2020, we began remote English-language training for a few Tunisian children abroad, as part of our entrepreneurship program. Still, we struggled to bring in enough business during this trying period.

Then, we heard a radio announcement about the COVID-19 Enterprise Recovery Fund established by the US government under its USAID Tunisia JOBS program. We applied and received a grant under this program, which funded a remote training platform that enabled us to expand our work throughout the country and abroad. We have since even expanded as far as Benin, West Africa, where we just concluded a deal to export our services.

As we continuously engage with youth, we teach them to take initiative in the private sector – this is the best way to improve their situation and contribute to their region’s development!  
 

Wiem Braham - Co-founder of Octa Formation

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