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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
A TOTAL of 5 000 people from Beitbridge District, among them the youth and the elderly are set to benefit from a life skills and entrepreneurship training project being rolled out by the Zimbabwe Science and Technology Association (ZSTA).

The organisation’s chairman, Mr Munashe Maguranyanga yesterday said they were implementing the initiative in partnership with the Zimbabwe Women’s Bank and the Nature College.

He said so far, they had trained 2 000 people in the district on soap making, packaging and branding, and hotel and catering related courses.

According to Mr Maguranyanga, 3 000 people will be trained on soap making (foam bath, hand sanitisers and bars) and packaging.

He said 2 000 are set to benefit from a course on confectionery and hotel and catering related activities.

“The soap making course takes three days, while the hotel and catering will be done in five days,” he said.

The official said at the end of the training, the students were being assisted to secure loans from the Zimbabwe Women’s Bank to boost their capacity to carry forward businesses that have shelf life.

“Those being trained hotel and catering programmes will be assisted with placements for further industrial learning at hotels and other food outlets.

“So far, we have engaged local hotels and several food outlets in Beitbridge and countrywide to put the students on attachment for a specified period so that they gain more experience,” said Mr Maguranyanga.

He said the courses were open to anyone from the age of 16 years and above and that all that all students were being issued with certificates upon completion of the trainings.

The official said the idea was to drive community development at the same time taking of the unemployed youths and some school leavers off the streets.

He said in some areas (across the country), they were partnering the Government through the Ministries of Youth Development and that of Women Affairs and community Development.

“The response we are getting from the Beitridge community is overwhelming and so far, we have covered the whole town component and Tshapfuche, Langeni, Penemene, Matshiloni and Lutumba in the rural part of the district.

“Our expectation is that at the end of these trainings, we will have more groups of people coming together to form viable Small to Medium Enterprises to improve their incomes at household level,” said Mr Maguranyanga.