Ronnie’s Story: Unlocking Potential through a Combination of Soft and Hard Skills

Critical thinking, resilience, and creativity – these soft skills are more likely to lead to a successful business venture or project. At Educate!, we put just as much emphasis on soft skills as on the hard skills of business planning such as pricing, risk assessment, and financial management.

No one exemplifies the power of this combination more than Ugandan Educate! graduate, Ronnie. At just 20, he is the co-founder of Harbby Products, a distributor of cleaning products. His enterprise also acts as a springboard for empowering rural women, training them to make detergents, soap, and sanitary products, and equipping them with the skills to establish their own small businesses.

In addition to running his business and pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering, Ronnie is also giving back to the community that fostered his own growth. He serves as a mentor at Educate!, inspiring secondary school students through his own experiences. The young entrepreneur has come a long way from a childhood marked by instability and a lack of resources.

We visited Harbby Products to learn more about Ronnie's social enterprise and to see the power of skill-building experiences in action.