09 Oct 2019

A total of 743 young people have applied for various projects under the Youth Development Fund (YDF) for the 2019/2020 financial year in the Southern District.

The agricultural sector recorded the highest applications of 556, followed by services and manufacturing with 138 and 40 respectively, while eight applied for the tourism sector.

According to the district youth coordinator, Ms Minkie Bokole, this year they received more applications after the deadline was extended from August 15 to September 6.

Ms Bokole lamented that they would only be able to fund between 136 and 140 projects, depending on each project budget, as they only had P15 million.

She said the total budget was meant for training, exchange programmes as well as funding of projects.

 She, however, noted that the Affirmative Action, which sought to empower Remote Area Dwellers (RADs) would assist.

 “Competition is going to be high and intense but we have special dispensation for those from remote areas because the competition ground is not level due to various factors,” she said.

She noted that the selection process had already started and they had engaged other stakeholders such as Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), Social and Community Development (S&CD), Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security and other institutions for their expertise.

She said the intention was to complete the adjudication by November, after which funding and related processes  would follow.

Ms Bokole urged the youth to always prepare for the next cycle by conducting thorough research on their business ideas.

She urged the youth to research about their business ideas before the application process starts and also own their business proposals instead of allowing consultants to do everything for them as they needed to go through the interview process.

She said despite the orientations conducted since February and throughout the application period, the extension period attracted new applicants who did not attend orientations.

She said they had to stretch their resources to take the applicants through the guidelines, while at the same time doing individual compliance consultations.

Ms Bokole said she was hopeful that the amended Trade and Licensing Act would help address shortage of operational space for youth businesses, which she said was one of the challenges hindering their progress. ENDS