19 Sep 2016

Beneficiaries of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) have been urged to pay back the money owed the fund so that others could benefit from the programme too.

Addressing youth in Francistown on September 15, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Kago Ramokate complained that a lot of young entrepreneurs were failing to service their YDF loans.

He drew their attention to the fact that the agreement they signed with the sponsors requires them to pay back the money they borrowed yet a lot of them were failing to do so.

“This is a breach of agreement for which the department is considering serious measures against defaulters because we have been too lenient thinking they will take responsibility and do as per the agreement,” he warned.

The PS said he was disappointment over the slow or non-payment at all by the young entrepreneurs, adding that the district statistics showed that only three out of the 250 beneficiaries have successfully cleared their loans.

“This is a clear sign that a lot of you are not doing some things right. You must face challenges as business people and find ways of overcoming them because eventually you must pay back,” he further warned.

He said as entrepreneurs, they should not depend on government alone for tenders to grow their business because competition is too high considering how many companies are mushrooming due to high unemployment rate.

However, he encouraged them to make sure they had all the relevant documents to be in a better position to win tenders because there are no favours made for one to win a tender.

Mr Ramokate said his ministry continued to commit to its mandate of helping the youth do business for the country’s economic growth and creation of employment for themselves and others.

Most of the beneficiaries decried expensive operational space as the main challenge of paying back the money as agreed.

Ms Maxime Makwaeba of Maxine Hair exclusives said she was funded in 2013 and the pickup of the business was very slow even though it suddenly got stable but the main challenge is high rentals. 

She added that her business was also faced with employees that use her resources as a training ground and later resign.

Mr Lebogang Keitshokile, who specialises in woodcraft, said he was funded in 2013 and finished paying in 2015 despite challenges. ENDS