23 Aug 2015

Youth entrepreneurs who require Youth Development Fund (YDF) refinancing will have to have sound businesses. This came to light during a workshop organised for YDF funded projects in Ramotswa.

An official of the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture, project management office, Mr Chris Batsalelwang said the refinancing policy would only be for successful projects which have potential for growth.

Furthermore, he said such projects should have repaid their loan to qualify for refinancing. 

He encouraged the youth to repay their loans in order to stand a chance of expansion. He noted that refinancing would not be easy for businesses as the refinancer would want to have a say in their business dealings.

“Our officers will become signatories to your company. We cannot keep on pumping money at the end there is need for sustainability,” he added.  Mr Batsalelwang said the ministry was facing challenges in collecting YDF loans from the youth.

The ministry’s acting South East District coordinator, Ms Banyanafela Batsima said part of the loan scheme was that the youth should repay their loans and write monthly reports.

She regretted that some youths change their mobile numbers and place of business without the knowledge of the ministry officers, adding that this makes it difficult for her office to track YDF funded projects.

Ms Batsima also encouraged the youth to repay their loans, and added that some businesses fail because they lacked thorough market research. 

She noted that some projects fail because the owners failed to market their businesses as they had indicated proposals.

For their part, some beneficiaries accused the ministry of having a lenient attitude on loans hence some opt not to pay.  They also said some businesses  failed to repay the loans by choice and called on the ministry to come with stiffer loan recovery measures. Ends