Haifaa Mohammed Hassan Eltayeb, Sudan Teaching the rules of success

Sudan (2015)

From the time she was a young schoolgirl, Haifaa Mohammed Hassan Eltayeb remembers admiring her teachers at the Italian convent school that she attended in Sudan. She recalls that when she came home from school, she would line up her text books as imaginary students and imitate her teachers.

“As far back as I remember I wanted to become a teacher and I qualified accordingly  - I graduated from University of Khartoum, Faculty of Arts,  did my MA in English Language ,CELTA from University of Cambridge, Mini master in Business, Knowledge Management and Lean Six Sigma. I started teaching and gained valuable experience in teaching the British Curriculum. I worked at many schools in Sudan such as Cambridge ,ABC Language School,Alruya Bilingual School as well as abroad in KSA-Riyadh at AL Kanar- Alolyia teaching IGCSE. I was appreciated by the school management everywhere for my abilities as a good teacher and praised as a valuable asset to the schools – I was even promoted to be an academic manager at Cambridge Training Center and Cambridge International School. But always in my head, I nursed the ambition to have my own business, be my own leader and accept the risk. My problem was that I did not know how to start!

Coincidentally, in December 2011, there was an announcement in the newspaper about the UNIDO Enterprise Development & Investment Promotion Program (EDIP). My husband and I attended this fruitful program, we were taught to translate our dreams and ideas into working reality. The course leaders taught us how to make our plans, prepare the feasibility study which can guide us and how to nurture our entrepreneurial spirit. This is how we thought of starting a school in the Jubara Area of Sudan because there is no British School there.  I was the pioneer in that.

To start with, I had just the equivalent of US$ 1100 to invest and to this we added our savings and insurance and rented the house for the school. We bought the assets and equipment in installments. I started my school as a kindergarten in June 2014 with 60 students. In 2015-’16, I plan to open the primary section.

In my opinion if this UNIDO program wasn't there I wouldn't have found the motivation to become an entrepreneur. The challenges that I face - the inflation ,the teachers training, having my own buses ,marketing – I was able to find solutions and the courage to go ahead because of the UNIDO program.  

In the future, we would like to expand our school into a VIP Academy. I am currently working on the training center that provides training for language, soft skills and entrepreneur courses in home packages for individuals and corporates based on the requirement. I conclude that UNIDO must continue its valuable work of empowering women entrepreneurs in Sudan. The need of the hour is awareness of our strengths, the proper way to run a business – I humbly suggest that UNIDO-ITPO should stretch its resources by twinning with universities and take the message of effective entrepreneurship to youth also. I always tell Sudanese youth to stay and make something in their country and not to immigrate; it is programs such as the UNIDO-ITPO EDIP  that will help us to empower our women and youth and give them the strength and knowledge to share in the progress of our country.