26 Jun 2014

Kgatleng West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole has advised the youth to take responsibility of ensuring success of their business projects.

Addressing the youth in a kgotla meeting at Khudumelapye in Letlhakeng Sub-district on June 24, Mr Mangole said they had observed that most youth projects collapsed because of a few challenges such as lack of passion.

Mr Mangole, also a member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Sport and Culture, said although passion was one of the major ingredients for business success, it was a pity that most youth who applied for funding lacked such passion.

He said they applied for funding just because government had availed funds for them to start businesses. He said other youth ventured into business projects as a last resort after failing to succeed in other survival strategies.

He warned them that the tendency of an absentee business owner would never see such a business succeeding. “A business is something that you have to engage in fulltime, you cannot run a business and on the other hand go around looking for employment,” he said.

Mr Mangole advised the youth that the success of their projects was their sole responsibility, while government could only assist them to a certain point. “While I admit that government has to play a certain part in assisting you, you too have to be aware that you have to go an extra mile in ensuring that your business survives. You have to venture out of your territories to seek markets for your businesses and not expect officers to help you sell your products,” he said.

Mr Mangole advised them that the world of business came with many challenges which could be overcome if one has passion for their business. “You must be prepared to even walk on foot and spend the night away without comfortable accommodation if you seriously want to see your projects prospering,” he said.

He also advised them to exercise patience in projects, saying it was unreasonable to expect overnight rewards. Mr Mangole was responding to most youth who had complained that they were required to hire employees but at the same time struggle to pay them, yet they are also not allowed to look for piece jobs.

He said if they were allowed to look for piece jobs they could be able to pay the employees they have in their projects. The youth also called for the Youth Development Fund (YDF) form to be availed in Setswana version, and also complained that the funds allocated per constituency was not enough to cater for the high volume of applications, something they said led to high rejection.

Prior to addressing the youth in Khudumelapye, the committee addressed a kgotla meeting in Letlhakeng, where the youth raised concerns that there was too much complacency among them, which lead to their businesses failing.

Youth representativein the area, Ms Mpho Keaboletse informed the committee that such laziness resulted in youth failing to seek assistance at youth offices.

Ms Keaboletse however, applauded the recently introduced National Internship Programme, but said consideration should be made for disabled participants to access their funds at post offices as they cannot travel to far distances to access banks.

For her part, the Letlhakeng sub-district coordinator, Ms Felicity Nyoni said Barclays bank, which has been awarded the tender to pay the National Internship Programme participants, is in discussions with BotswanaPost so that those far from the bank could get their funds at the post offices.

Still concerning the National Internship Programme, Ms Nyoni said they were still experiencing a challenge where departments that require protective clothing request the youth office to buy such clothes for the participants, as well as pay them overtime.

She however, said they recently held orientations for supervisors of the participants and that such cases were explain to them that departments have to buy clothes and pay overtime to the participants they have absorbed.

She also informed them that the recent re-structuring of the ministry would see more officers being relocated to out-stations, which will improve service delivery.

The chairman of the committee, who is also the MP for Shoshong, Mr Phillip Makgalemele said the objective of their tour was to get feedback from the youth on the challenges and successes of various youth programmes such as YDF and the National Internship programme.

The committee comprises of Messrs Makgalemele, Mangole, MP for Kgalagadi South Mr John Toto, MP for Okavango Mr Bagalatia Arone, MP for Tonota North Mr Fidelis Molao and MP for South East South, Mr Odirile Motlhale. ENDS