25 Feb 2020

A total 38 Youth Development Fund (YDF) projects have been funded during the 2019/2020 financial year, with 19 projects in each constituency of the Letlhakeng Sub-district.

Speaking during the official opening of the Letlhakeng Sub-district Council session on Monday, chairperson, Mr Meshack Tshenyego said of the 38 funded projects, four were from Remote Area Dweller Settlements (RADS) out of the total of 433 applications received from aspiring young entrepreneurs.

“It is worth noting that the YDF processing is on-going as we speak, with 17 funded projects at procurement stage, while the rest are still at opening of accounts” he said.

Mr Tshenyego said all the funded beneficiaries were accorded an opportunity to undergo entrepreneurship training, which would enable them to run the projects with minimum troubles.

The sub-council chairperson informed councillors that the YDF programme was faced with the main challenge of failure by young entrepreneurs to pay back their project loan component.

He added that during the previous three quarters of the year, only P46 640 was collected against the expected target of P269 246.

Mr Tshenyego therefore urged councillors to support the ministry in its endeavour to urge the funded entrepreneurs to pay back the loan component, as it was a revolving fund.

He said some other challenges had been cited such as lack of market for goods and services, together with abandonment of projects due to lack of commitment. ENDs