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Minister Sithembiso Nyoni addresses the Matabeleland North business community at the Lupane State University in Lupane on Tuesday

Wilson Dakwa, Business Reporter
SMALL to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni says higher and tertiary institutions should work closely with small businesses to promote entrepreneurship development.

Addressing Lupane State University (LSU) senior staff on Tuesday, Minister Nyoni said colleges and universities should include in their curricula entrepreneurship skills training.

She said her ministry has already approached some colleges such as Kwekwe Polytechnic with a view of scaling up entrepreurship skills training. “As a ministry, we request that colleges and universities include in their curricula entrepreneurship skills training. We want to institutions of higher learning to produce graduates with entrepreneurship skills. We had a pilot project on entrepreneurship skills training at Midlands State University (MSU) and it proved to be a success and now we want it replicated nationally,” said Minister Nyoni.

She said President Mugabe has repeatedly called on institutions of higher learning as well as schools to produce graduates that have entrepreneurship skills who create jobs instead of seeking employment.

Minister Nyoni said her ministry was therefore investing a lot of resources to support entrepreneurship skills training.

She said it has been established across the globe that entrepreneurship skills are critical for economic transformation, empowerment and poverty alleviation, especially in developing countries like Zimbabwe.

The informal sector is now the country’s largest employer and for the past two decades, more than two million people have been making their living from the informal sector. Securing jobs in the formal sector has been proving difficult with people having to resort to activities such as cross border trading to make a living.

Minister Nyoni bemoaned the migration of Zimbabweans to neighbouring countries and other continents in search of greener pastures. “We need to change our mentality because if we don’t do this, no matter how much progress we make as a country, it will all be in vain. We can’t continue to have brain drain, we need Zimbabweans to stay so as to help us revive the economy,” she said.

The minister also called upon tertiary institutions to support the agriculture sector so as to boost food security.

@WilsonDakwa1