TruStory
Young Expert Programmes’ (YEP Programmes) mission is to create a young, renewed, inspiring international network and build expertise in the fields of Water, Agrofood and renewable Energy through Dutch organisations, operating in developing countries and emerging markets. For the period 2024-2025, Truvalu and YEP Agro Food (in close collaboration with its strategic partner Netherlands Food Partnership) partnered to equip Edward Macharia with the skills to tackle sustainable development goals in Kenya.
Access to networks and professional development is an active process and in Kenya, where youth unemployment is high, the opportunities are few and most organizations fail to take note of their employees’ professional development. At Truvalu we value our staff and the expertise they have to offer from a young age. We are committed to nurturing our talent. Our ongoing commitment to this ideal has led to Edward being the 5th young expert which we have partnered with YEP to personally develop.
This YEP program has emboldened Edward to become more active in the ecosystems in which he serves. Since the start of the program, he has grown in soft skills to deepen his networks in the Kenyan investment ecosystem to further drive impactful investments for Truvalu. This has helped him grow more confident in sourcing opportunities for investment in Kenya and taking a more active role in the investment process.
The individual and collective training programme is focused on Young Experts’ personal development and serves as an extra boost to start their international careers. The training programme for Young Experts is focused on several areas of development:
The program of Batch 31 began with a two week intensive training session at the Hague where Edward received training in Communication, Pitching, Personal development based on MBTI, Intercultural work, Design Thinking and Managing Terms and Conditions. Edward was then assigned a mentor who met up regularly throughout the year to help activate Edward’s network locally and in the Netherlands within and outside Truvalu.
The training programme consisted of 5 learning tracks which together allow Young Experts to become versatile professionals:
The YEP Programme Bureau also appointed a coach to Edward to focus on his personal development goals and helped develop learning objectives and was available for any personal matters as well.
Through the program, Edward along with other Young Experts from other organizations was equipped and provided with resources to organize a YEP intervision weekend drawing 39 young experts from various organizations for a weekend of networking and training in Lake Elementita. As part of the organizing committee, he was active in arranging field visits to Nawasscoal, an organisation making briquettes from human waste extracted from sewage water and Flora Ola, a flower farm to see the process of growing (spray) roses in greenhouses and the nexus between agriculture, water and renewable energy. An inspiring learning experience!
As the YEP program begins to draw down, Truvalu continues to maintain its long term investment in the development of its Young Expert. The program still hopes to offer Edward a return training to the Netherlands in 2025 to further advance his personal development. He has now enrolled at the University of Strathmore to study his masters in development finance to further equip him in tackling the challenge of human development in health, education and dignity from a financial perspective in Kenya. Under the supervision of the Managing Director of Truvalu Kenya, he continues to improve his technical expertise in data and financial analysis as he has completed training in three statement modelling from wall street prep at the direction of the managing director. Truvalu is happy to continue working with Edward!