14 Jul 2016

The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture Mr Thapelo Olopeng has been awarded the African Achievers Award in the category of Youth Empowerment and Social Development.

Speaking in an interview, Minister Olopeng said the award as in recognition of the role he has played in ensuring youth become empowered through government’s schemes such as the Youth Development Fund (YDF).

The minister said when he heard he was nominated for the award, he undertook a research and realised it was a prestigious institution with legends such as Desmond Tutu counted amongst the recipients of the award.

He said winning the award came as a surprise and a shock as he is only in his first term as a minister having been appointed in 2014.

Minister Olopeng said at the same time the award was a challenge to make sure he puts in more effort.

He said youth empowerment was his passion, saying during his 15 years in the private sector he helped young people to grow their businesses.

He said youth unemployment remains a challenge hence the need for businesses to be set up not just to create wealth, but to create jobs as well.

Minister Olopeng said he was happy with the support he receives from government saying he has a leadership that listens.

Following the review of the YDF last year where they re-engineered their processes, the minister said it used to take a long time for youths to receive correspondence from his ministry but the turn-around time has been reduced to 30 days.

As the new strategy is still new, the minister said they were bound to have teething problems as it includes training officers in all 12 districts.

He said this was a way of showing that YDF was not a ceremonial gesture but an avenue through which youths could be empowered.

The minister implored young people to work hard saying this was the only way they could succeed.

He said parents were looking for return on investment by educating their children hence they have expectations after they graduate.

On the off take of the YDF, the minister said they encourage youths to use the facility through seminars and workshops and the Youth Pitso, adding they were not trying to make everyone an entrepreneur as it was impossible hence they were looking into a new model where they could recapitalize existing businesses.

He said they were already involved with the private sector with two commercial banks lined up to offer loans to youths.

The minister said unemployment in the country resulted from global economic problems and was therefore not created by government.

Minister Olopeng said other than economic empowerment through businesses, sport and culture were other avenues through which youths could be empowered.

He said there was need to develop sports at grassroots level so Botswana could also one day export its talent where football players for example could earn more money.

Culture has also been brought on as evidenced by the President’s Day Competitions and the minister said youths should be encouraged to turn their groups into business entities.

He said they have signed memorandum of understanding for cultural exchanges with different countries which should benefit the youths.

The minister thanked Batswana for their support through which he captured the eye of the international community. He said he would continue to interact with them on his facebook page.

The 8^th African Achievers Awards were held in Abuja, Nigeria on July 8 2016 and other winners included representatives of South Africa, Gambia, Zambia and Kenya.ENDS