By Steven Godfrey Mkweteza
National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM) says youth in the country stands to transform their lives if only they develop an interest in venturing into the long term entrepreneuralship programs such as the national youth innovations fund.
Executive director for the council, Rex Chapota said this in Blantyre on Monday during the opening of the pre-award training session for the national youth innovations fund grantees for the southern region.
Chapota noted that varrous long term entrepreneuralship programs which are being introduced in the country would be ideal and reliable ventures to transform both the lives of the youth and the country’s economic status during the country’s prevailing employment scarcity.
Chapota, however, expressed concern over lack of interest among the youth to tap from varrious entrepreneurship programs that have been introduced in the country.
Chapota said the youth of the country need to borrow a leaf from the youth of other neighouring countries where entrepreneurship development activities have helped to transform lives of the youth and the economic status of the countries.
” Through this fund, we want to see a total of 150 youth innovators across the country benefitting from this fund by venturing into long term lives and the country’s economic transforming business development ventures,” he said
The national executive director said the 2 billion Kwacha worth innovations fund, would disburse funds from 10 million to 30 million Kwacha each to each grantees based on business plan.
” We are therefore, training these youth innovators from the southern region who are among the first cohort of 85 grantees of the funds on how they can use prudently the funds for their varrious business development ventures so as to create wealth and employment as we want to see a youth-led economy of the country,” said Chapota
In a separate interview, Frankson Wiskes from the Zomba based Madyo food processors and suppliers, expressed concern over forex shortages, which he said has affected his enterprise to expand.
” Some of our products rely on raw materials from outside the country. However, the forex shortages have heavily affected our production. This has also created high competition and high levels of imported products since companies from outside the country supply their finished products due to our low production,” he said.
