Ministers to meet youth business leaders Dr Sekai Nzenza

Business Reporter
A DELEGATION of Cabinet ministers will engage young entreprenuers in Bulawayo this week during the inaugural National Youth Business Expo to be held in the city between Thursday and Saturday.

Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, is expected to headline the event while several ministers are scheduled to attend, acting director in charge of businesses, Mrs Nomsa Mpofu-Moyo, said.

These include; Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister, Kirsty Coventry, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister, Dr Sithembiso Nyoni.

Higher and Tertiary, Innovation Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, is also expected to attend.

These will share the stage with private sector leaders and render different policy insights to assist the young business leaders on how to grow their business potential and tap into local and global trade markets.

Organised by the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, with the support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the gathering will run under the theme: “Revitalising and Empowering Youth Business Across Value Chains”.

Professor Mthuli Ncube

Mrs Mpofu-Moyo, said preparations for the expo were at an advanced stage with young entrepreneurs from the 10 provinces of the country, private sector leaders and Government representatives having registered.

“The theme was well thought out after realising that youth businesses suffered a lot during the Covid-19 induced lockdowns and so needed to be activated by giving the much-needed support for youth to access economic opportunities across all value chains,” she said.

“Youths are very important for the country’s economic development as they bring solutions to economic problems through their innovativeness.

“Most of their businesses come as a solution to a problem faced in their various communities.”
Mrs Mpofu-Moyo said the expo will provide young entrepreneurs with opportunity to showcase their businesses, network with peers from other provinces and exchange ideas as well as establish business linkages.

According to a concept paper, several countries in Africa have a high youth population with Zimbabwe, in particular, having a percentage of 67,7 percent of young people in its total population.

Minister Kirsty Coventry

The youth have huge potential of running productive businesses and are creative and innovative in their businesses.

However, they face challenges in accessing markets. Limited market access leads to businesses not breaking even or outright collapse, bringing into question the sustainability of youth-owned enterprises, added the paper.

As such, Mrs Mpofu-Moyo said the youth ministry was implementing several initiatives to support youths in their pursuit of business opportunities with the scheduled expo being one of the major strategies.

“The ministry offers the much-needed entrepreneurship skills through vocational training as well as financial support in their businesses through Empower Bank.

Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu

“The ministry intends to host the National Youth Business Expo as an annual event, which will provide this important networking platform for young entrepreneurs,” she said.

The Empower Bank has already set a target of growing its loan book to over $1 billion by the end of 2022 as it aims to increase support to young entrepreneurs across the country.

Dr Sithembiso Nyoni

The financial institution was set up as a micro-banking unit by the Government in 2018 specifically to support different youth initiatives to achieve economic empowerment and financial inclusion.

It also mobilises youths through financial literacy and project proposal training so that they present bankable business proposals to access funding.

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