TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
A Zambian company, Entrepreneur Valley, will work with youths in the city of Bulawayo to help them grow their businesses and spread to other parts of the world.
The company, which has footprints in several countries the SADC countries will work with the youth entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe’s second capital city under Youth Network Connect.
“We want youth companies to become global champions,” Philimon Nyirenda,the managing director for Youth Network Connect said.
He added: “As Youth Network Connect we believe that the youth are the future of our society and we need to create an environment that supports their development. Organizations like us should provide the youth with opportunities for leadership, community engagement and entrepreneurship opportunities.
“Empowering the youth requires understanding their needs, values and goals. In order to do that, it is important to invest in them by creating opportunities for them to learn new skill sets and gain new empowerment experiences.”
Director of Entrepreneur Valley, Denver Lewis, said the aim of the partnership was to see young people flourishing and growing their companies.
“Our vision is to spread across Africa. Now we are working in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The next countries we want to be in are Malawi and Tanzania. We want to be in the entire continent of Africa,” Lewis said.
He added: “We want to see hundreds of youth flourishing and growing companies that has the capacity to employ people that will contribute to their livelihood and be able to alleviate poverty in communities.”
Government has in the past provided loans to empower youths, but due to some serious loopholes most youths failed to pay back the borrowed funds.
Most squandered the money.
Speaking at the same occasion, the Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Judith Ncube said the government was committed to the economic development of the country.
“I am very much cognisant of the many challenges facing the youths today such as high unemployment rates and substance and drug abuse. We need to espouse ubuntu and value human life, which is what makes us different as human beings. We are because of others, we need every youth for us to reach our aim of making the goals of 2030 a reality in our lives.
“As the Government, our commitment to economic development is influenced by Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 goals, “she said.
