Symphrosa Kanyanja Chomba (Mrs)
My entire life has been centred
on education, starting from the time I was trained as a teacher. During my
career, I taught at many schools including heading the following schools;
Chinsali Girls, Kasama Girls and Helen Kaunda Girls of Kitwe where I left
remarkable improvements. As per tradition in the Ministry of Education, time
came for me to be transferred to Kabwe, where I retired and currently settled
with my family.
With the passion to
contribute to society and outstanding performance in my teaching career, I was
persuaded to go into politics and contested a parliamentary seat which I
unfortunately lost in the election. After failure to win the parliamentary seat
where great expectations lay, I had nothing to do and almost became depressed.
Later I started a small business but did not do much.
In 1995, I went to Lusaka
and learnt of the Future Search Entrepreneurship workshop starting at National
Institute for Public Administration (NIPA) where its offices were located. I
went and registered for the workshop. When the workshop started, the most
challenging thing happened on the second day when we were all asked to start a
business. Being a visitor I had no resources so it proved too difficult
for me. However, I did not give up and thought of starting polishing shoes and
making simple sausages. I did so well with the business creation exercise (BCE)
that I even won a Second Prize at the end of the workshop. After this
training and with the influence of the Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies
(PECs), my mind was opened. Using the PECs and my profession as an
educationist, I got a one year contract at Nkrumah Teachers Training College as
a Senior Lecturer which I never renewed because I saw no future in that work.
Using the “PECs of Information seeking and Opportunity Seeking and Initiative”,
I managed to secure three (3) years contract with YWCA as an Entrepreneurship
Trainer. This programme was sponsored by the German Government for Kabwe
townships and surrounding Peri-urban areas. At the end of the contract I was
given only K184, 000.00 not rebased. That made me refuse to renew the contract
when asked to. With this same money, my passion for contributing to the
education sector was invoked. I therefore, rented an office at Chitanda House
and started the business of conducting entrepreneurship training and other
business courses with the initial number of six (6) students. Despite the low
enrolment levels, I was not discouraged instead I used “persistence and other
PECs”, to continue the business which eventually led to increased
enrolment of students. Between 1999 and 2000, I surveyed the market and decided
to start a Teacher’s Training College. I prepared the necessary paper work and
registered the business of a college with a Catholic orientation by the name of
Immaculata Teachers College. The enrolment increased which resulted in
acquiring another lecture room at the same premises. At this time, we raised K4,
000.00 from the sale of application forms and bought tables and chairs for the
college and recruited three teachers. The first 37 students in a 3 year course
known as Zambia Basic Education Certificate (ZABEC) commenced. The fees paid by
the students were used to pay teachers’ salaries. The demand increased and
the need arose to move to a bigger training facility