A Liberian nongovernmental organization, Platform for Dialogue and Peace and St. Andrew University, a UK higher institution of learning have commenced the training of commercial motorcyclists in major cities in Liberia in business skills development starting on Friday, January 14, 2022 at the St. Paul Bridge Community and brought together 22 motorcyclists from various parking stations of the adjacent communities.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of P4DP, Dr. Wallah Wilsitoe, applauded efforts of St. Andrews University for helping to expose cyclists to the concept of business in Liberia. He admonished the participants to take the training seriously, noting “self-employment is a cornerstone to economic transformation.”
Dr. Wilsitoe said despite the dominant role played by commercial motorcycles in public transport in Liberia, little is known about their origin, service patterns, ridership characteristics, and cost structure. In this regard, the Board Chair said since 2018, P4DP in collaboration with the St. Andrews University has implemented a project titled ‘Pehn Pehn Riding as Post War Livelihood Strategy: Youth and Peacebuilding in Liberia.
In separate remarks, the participants thanked the organizers for the opportunity being afforded cyclists in the country. They pledged to utilize the skills and knowledge acquired during the training.The project which has undergone different phases of implementation was developed to harness the contributions of motorcyclists to Liberia’s post conflict peacebuilding through developing the capacities of motorcyclists and fostering other opportunities aimed at sustaining peace and social cohesion in Liberia.
The Business Skills Development Training for the motorcyclists was designed to expose cyclists to business entrepreneurship. The training consisted of three major modules, which included: (1) Introduction to Business Entrepreneurship, (2) Managing Business Finances, and (3) Promoting a Favorable Business Environment. The training targets a cross section of cyclists in various communities in Monrovia (St. Paul Bridge, Jallah Town, Fiamah, Peace Community, Duport Road and Red-Light); Tubmanburg in Bomi County; Weala in Margibi County; and Ganta in Nimba County.
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