How the Build Your Best Self Fellowship is helping young professionals reimagine their futures

Authors: Angelina Adut | Emmanuel Bida

In early August 2025, over twenty young South Sudanese logged onto Jitsi Meet from their homes, offices, and internet cafés across Juba. Some were still students, some fresh graduates still figuring out their next steps; others were young professionals eager to climb the career ladder.

For the next three months, these participants would become the inaugural cohort of the Build Your Best Self (BYBS) Fellowship, a hybrid personal branding program jointly run by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS), a national nonprofit organisation and Build Your Best Self, an online mentorship platform.

What began as a modest virtual training series soon turned into a movement — equipping a generation of young South Sudanese with the professional and emotional tools to navigate a challenging job market.

From Hesitation to Hope

Unemployment among young graduates in South Sudan remains stubbornly high. Many university leavers lack access to practical career guidance, mentorship, or the digital skills now essential for global competitiveness.

“Too many of our young people finish university with ambition but little direction,” says Roman Viola Brenda, Founder and CEO of Build Your Best Self (BYBS), a human resource consultant and one of the BYBS mentors. “They know what they studied, but not how to translate that into a career story that stands out.”

That gap was what the BYBS Fellowship set out to fill.

Between August and October 2025, the fellowship hosted intensive weekend sessions — every Saturday and Sunday — covering topics such as CV and cover letter writing, personal branding, LinkedIn optimisation, goal setting, professional networking, and digital productivity tools.

Facilitated by Mr. Emmanuel Bida Thomas, Ms. Roman Viola Brenda, Ms. Rose Yobu, and Ms. Angelina Adut Akech, the sessions were designed to feel like conversations, not lectures. Fellows practised writing professional bios, analysing job adverts, crafting interview responses, and even managing personal finances — skills often overlooked in traditional education systems.

“We wanted to build something holistic — not just a training on CVs, but a journey of rediscovering yourself,” says Emmanuel Bida, Program and Communications Manager at the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan.

“When young people know who they are, they stop waiting for opportunities to appear — they start creating them.”

The Power of Transformation

By the program’s end in late October, only about twenty (20) fellows had completed the full journey — a small but determined group that stuck through the online sessions, assignments, and mentorship calls.

Among them was Samuel Wei Gai, a university student who had lost confidence after being denied his preferred course of study.

“I joined BYBS to rebuild myself,” he said during his graduation reflection. “It reminded me that rejection is not the end — it’s just redirection.”

Another fellow, Kalisto Bak, recalls joining out of curiosity.

“The name ‘Build Your Best Self’ caught my eye,” he said. “I didn’t even know what an email signature was before the training. Now, I’ve introduced that at my workplace — I was the first staff to ever ask for one!”

He laughs as he remembers his boss’s surprise, then adds, “They say until you teach what you know, you don’t really know anything. This fellowship gave me both knowledge and confidence.”

For Kaku Betty, the lessons in personal finance management were life-changing.

“It opened my eyes,” she explained. “I started tracking weekly expenses at work, and management noticed we were spending less. They even asked how I learned to do it.”

“I used to be on my phone all the time — sleeping only three hours a night,” recalls Taluga Robin, another fellow.

“Now I schedule my tasks, sleep better, and actually get more done,” he said in his essay on Medium, “The Importance of the Build Your Best Self Fellowship in Self-Transformation”

Finding Meaning Through Mentorship

For many fellows, the BYBS sessions became more than professional development — they became a safe space to heal, reflect, and grow.

Anna James, who describes herself as a “proud fellow,” shared that she joined with low confidence and little motivation. “I was broken,” she wrote on her LinkedIn post after graduation.

“But through BYBS, I learned emotional intelligence and resilience. When I lost my brother, the messages from my fellow participants comforted me. It reminded me I wasn’t alone.”

Another participant, Nyakuar Bol Chol, learned about the program through a friend in Egypt. Her family doubted its value, but she persisted — and later landed a job with the Africa Foundation. “I applied the CV and interview lessons we learned,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I am without this program.”

These stories echo a shared sentiment among fellows — that BYBS helped them rediscover not only their professional abilities, but also their sense of purpose and belonging.

Learning for a Modern Economy

South Sudan’s labour market remains in transition. With most jobs in public service or NGOs, young professionals often lack exposure to global work culture and digital skills. That’s why BYBS placed strong emphasis on Google productivity tools, LinkedIn optimization, and safe social media use.

“Digital professionalism is no longer optional,” says mentor Emmanuel Bida, a communications manager. “Your online presence can open doors — or close them. We teach fellows to treat their profiles as extensions of their personal brands.”

Sessions on mental health, emotional intelligence, and personal resilience were equally crucial. Ms. Rose Yobu, who facilitated those modules, said that young people often face silent emotional struggles that affect their performance.

“We can’t talk about employability without talking about wellbeing,” Rose Yobu says. “Confidence, discipline, and focus all start from within.”

A Fellowship That Feels Like Family

Throughout the fellowship, the group formed a strong bond — cheering each other on in WhatsApp chats, sharing opportunities, and encouraging peers who fell behind.

“It was like a family,” says Kalisto Baak. “Even online, the connection was real.”

By the final week in October, fellows were invited to write and present transformation stories — reflective essays about how the fellowship had changed their mindset. For many, it was emotional.

“Before this, I saw myself as just another job seeker,” one participant wrote. “Now, I see myself as a brand — as someone who adds value.”

When the graduation ceremony ended, mentors watched proudly as fellows interacted. What had started as an online experiment had become a catalyst for community and self-belief.

A Model for Sustainable Empowerment

The BYBS Fellowship’s virtual design was both a limitation and a strength. It required reliable internet — a challenge for many in Juba — but also made participation more flexible for young people juggling studies or work.

According to the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan and Build Your Best Self, the long-term plan is to make the fellowship hybrid, combining online sessions with occasional in-person meetups for peer networking and mentorship.

“South Sudan’s greatest resource is its youth,” says Emmanuel Karaba Ezra, Executive Director of the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan. “Our role is to give them the mindset and tools to compete — not just locally, but regionally and globally.”

Karaba believes that such low-cost, high-impact programs are key to building a resilient workforce.

“This is how transformation starts — one person at a time, learning to believe again.”

Beyond the Screen

For about twenty (20) graduates, the end of the fellowship was not the end of their learning. Many have stayed connected through a BYBS Alumni Network, where they share job opportunities, mentorship tips, and personal growth challenges.

“Graduation day was just the beginning,” says Anna James. “We’re still building our best selves — every single day.”

The fellows now represent a growing community of young South Sudanese professionals who are redefining what success looks like — grounded in self-awareness, resilience, and service to others.

“BYBS taught me that growth is not a destination but a process,” writes Joseph Baka in his Medium reflection. “It reminded me that even in difficult environments, we can choose to rise.”

A Ripple of Possibility

In South Sudan, a country still rebuilding its education and employment systems, initiatives like Build Your Best Self (BYBS) offer a glimpse of what’s possible when learning meets empathy.

“Empowerment doesn’t always need a big budget,” says Roman Viola Brenda. “Sometimes, it’s just about giving people the right knowledge, the right tools, and the right words at the right time.”

For the fellows of the first cohort of the Build Your Best Self (BYBS) Fellowship, those words became a lifeline — a reminder that even in an uncertain world, they could still build their best selves.