Next year sees the program extend to include work from graduates of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Auckland

Julia sees the program as a blessing - a way out of her dangerous neighbourhood where businesses are forced to pay extortion to gangs.

Like many business owners, he sees the program providing him with a hard-working, reliable workforce less prone to quitting when something better comes along.

Wilson sees the program as a kind of pilot project intended to help African governments fill the "talent vacuum" in the years immediately following independence.