A youth entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) workshop held in Keetmanshoop on Friday addressed the issue of poor business plan skills, which is a major barrier to many young people's access to the National Youth Development Fund.
More than 152 local residents, mainly young people including grade 11 and AS learners from PK De Villiers Secondary School, attended the 3-hour training at the ||Kharas Regional Office Park.
The Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy (MIME) in collaboration with the ||Kharas Youth Desk organised this in an effort to close the crucial gap that prevents young people from securing the National Youth Development Fund.
Emma Abed is the Youth Desk Coordinator in the |Kharas Governor's Office.
"We have youth that have businesses that are not producing profits; this is a platform for them to understand what works for business and what does not work. Number two, we have youth that work for a business plan that is marketable and will secure this funding, and number three, as a governor's youth desk, our aim is to facilitate getting information and to cascade it to grassroots levels, so we are going to work with the constituencies' offices with the information that we have received today, and we hope that this information will reach the youth at the grassroots levels."
The Local Councillor for Keetmanshoop Local Authority", Pieter Skeyer, urged the youth to take entrepreneurship seriously as a career choice and take advantage of the National Youth Development Fund.
"The national government has opened up doors for all of us through the National Youth Development Fund. Young people can access funding, training and mentorship. The other day I read in groups that only two or three from our region benefited from the National Youth Development Fund. If there are two, it means there is already a start. That means there is hope that more of our youth might have funding for the future."
The News team also spoke to one of the facilitators, a Cape Town lecturer and entrepreneurship coach, Tofeeq Hargey, who shared insights into the information the workshop will provide to the participants.
"It's providing practical skills and guidelines for people in a small community like in Keetmanshoop, so we hope that the youth that are here today will take this opportunity at looking at the practical ways to overcome the challenges we have in our society, and it's totally different to the environment we have in Windhoek. So we need to showcase to them how to write the business plan, how to market your business, how to do the operations and, most importantly, how to do the finance."
The news team also spoke to some of the participants about their expectations, and this is what they had to say.
"To get information and ideas that I can use in my life or journey as a young entrepreneur because I am studying entrepreneurship."
"To see if there are opportunities for young agriculture entrepreneurs and see how I can apply to it, do I know how to write a business proposal? Yes, I think I have an idea, but you can never stop learning."