The popularity of overseas volunteering is booming.

In the UK, the newest craze is the 'grown up gap year', where people in their twenties, thirties and beyond take some time out from work to do something worthwhile in another country. Out of 25,000 such volunteers in 2006, some 62% were post-gap year. A recent Aviva survey suggested that one in four UK employees would like to take time off in this way.

In the US, the focus is on 'voluntourism', which combines a conventional holiday with a short-term voluntary activity, often within the confines of US itself (such as disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina). One survey indicates that as many as 40% of Americans wish to go on a holiday that includes an element of volunteering.

Both of these trends are encouraging, in particular because they open up the benefits of international volunteering to a wider audience. But there is a clear need to ensure that the benefits to host communities stay at the forefront of volunteering projects. One cause for concern is that few short-term voluntary assignments aimed at the post-gap year market make any attempt to capitalise on the skills that these people can offer. A Tourism Concern survey suggested that 69% of UK volunteering organisations do not ask for any relevant qualifications from prospective volunteers. The majority of projects offered are in unskilled areas such as construction, where it is arguable that the job could be better done by locals who need the employment and income.

For those who are looking to volunteer overseas with some degree of work experience, this begs the question of whether the skills that they have acquired can be used productively during their trip. Plenty of opportunities exist for teachers, doctors, engineers and the like. But what about people who have a generic business background - perhaps in HR, or marketing, or financial management? A VSO survey indicates that 37% of people in the UK want to use their business skills to help people overseas.

By pairing volunteers with one or more entrepreneurs in Kenya, Skills Venture offers the chance to use those skills to good effect. Working with businesses is the best way to share skills, and it also creates long sustainable employment and wealth within local communities. Volunteers might be providing a specific consulting input, or more generalised mentoring support. Opportunities exist to volunteer for almost any timeframe, from less than a week to a year or more.

Skills Venture's assignments are carefully designed to maximise the impact that volunteers can have on local entrepreneurs, and by extension on their communities. We provide a thorough pre-departure induction briefing, covering cultural and technical issues as well as the practicalities. We match volunteers with entrepreneurs whose skills needs closely match their own background, and will agree a specific output for the assignment with the volunteer and the entrepreneur(s) beforehand.

Volunteers with business experience have a lot to offer, and a huge amount to gain, on a placement that really puts their skills to the test!