Youth and Sport Minister Vincent Mwale has urged young people in the country to take advantage of the Youth Development Fund which is being disbursed by his ministry.
Mr. Mwale said the fund does not belong to any political grouping but was meant to benefit all the young people who have viable projects.
He said government decided to come up with an empowerment fund in an effort to empower youths with finances.
He said this during the official opening of the national workshop on longitudinal study on the impact of the building young future’s programme being implemented by Barclays Bank and the United Nations Children’s Emergence Fund (UNICEF).
Mr. Mwale explained that the fund is decentralized and is being coordinated through the national and provincial technical committees.
Speaking earlier, UNICEF Country Representative Hamid El-Bashir said in a speech read for him by Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist Joshua Kakaire that government should be commended for partnering with UNICEF and Barclays Bank in equipping the young people with entrepreneurship, marketing and financial skills.
And Barclays Bank Managing Director Saviour Chibiya said there was need for concerted efforts in ensuring that youths are economically empowered for them to contribute effectively to national development.
The young entrepreneurs drawn from across the country also showcased the different business ventures that they are engaged in.
Here is my take on this. How are these youth going to manage a project if they don’t have skills? For example these kids go to college and learn all the concepts of accounting, marketing, business management or entrepreneurial skills etc. They can set up a business and obtain a loan and will work. But what about those with no skills how are they going to manage? Do we have centers that will teach through hands on learning skills for those without the education? An example is the government subsidizing jobs through hotels so youth can learn from chefs and sous chefs. That way after a year they know the operations of a kitchen, equipment, how the back of the house works, how orders come in to keeping stock and ordering it. They need to be able to pay these loans so the cycle continues.