Two students of the University of Michigan’s Society of Women Engineers Chapter and Mr. Siryon last Tuesday in Monrovia, a day after his arrival
YES, INC students and on official in the United States
The chief executive officer of YES Incorporated, a not for profit organization that engages children of Liberian parents and others for success in Minnesota, MN in the United States, has arrived in the country.
Mr. Duannah Siryon, who was also instrumental for the successive trip of the national amputee soccer team to the United States to meet with their American counterparts, told the Daily Observer that he is in the country to seek business opportunities.
“I’m here to take advantage over what my organization could do to empower Liberian youths so that they can advance in their dreams,” Mr. Siryon said.
Yes Incorporated was formerly known as PRO-USA Incorporated and was heavily involved in sports. It is now diverse he said.
Mr. Siryon holds a BA in Accounting and a Master’s in Management and has been heavily involved with US Internal Revenue Service, filing taxes for American workers at the end of the working year.
He said when PRO USA Incorporated began several years ago, he saw sports as the medium to get to the youths and therefore got involved several former Liberian soccer players in the United States.
Presently, the organization, Yes Incorporated, recruits coaches to build the capacity of young people, especially Liberian children in Brooklyn Park and help them plan for their future.
“We engage businesses, civic groups, and service providers and grant makers to empower individual advancement and community impact,” Mr. Siryon said, and he believes that a similar organization to provide similar services could be established to benefit many youths in the country.
He said his organization also seeks groups that are interested in developing the next generation of leaders, one kid at a time, to help them focus on their future. “We engage in young people from age 15-20 who live and work in Brooklyn Park and help them plan a successful future with a difference,” he said.
YES, INC, he said focuses on after school tutoring, civic involvement, and college preparation. It forms partnership with community institutions and individual volunteers and helps ambitious teens gain the awareness, tools and connections to succeed in life as well as build capacity for youth programming in family success, money matters and job creation.
It may be recalled that Mr. Siryon was the main contact that negotiated with the United States Amputee Federation to have had a soccer tournament with the national amputee soccer team.
When the tournament was cancelled and Mr. Siryon sent the cancellation information to the Ministry of Youth & Sports, least attention was paid to it and the amputee’s leaders used the MYS’s inaction to get the government to provide them with tickets and support that sent them to the United States.
Mr. Siryon regretted that MYS did not respond to his several communications, announcing the cancellation of the engagement and went ahead to secure American visas, provided per Diems for the delegation. Since majority of the players were handicapped, reports said when they arrived in the United States, a Liberian in Maryland finally rescued them and placed them in homes, and is providing for them.