17 Mar 2020

Member of Parliament for Ramotswa and Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi has advised the youth in his constituency to change their mindset if they are to be successful in life.

The MP expressed this on Saturday during a youth entrepreneurship seminar he organised for the youth.

 He told the youth that if they were to succeed, they had to sacrifice and deprive themselves f some things.

Mr Moagi said a journey to a successful business started with self-discipline and a fine-tuned mindset.

The MP urged his constituents in business and those aspiring to go into business not to despise starting small, saying starting small was the best way to learn.

He further encouraged them to take advantage of opportunities availed by government to develop them and not to be choosey.

He expressed disappointment that the quality of some services and products offered by some local entrepreneurs was poor. “We are not doing enough,” MP Moagi said.

CEDA chief operations officer, Mr Andrew Madeswi said although the youth complained about funding, CEDA was worried about funding youth who were not ready for entrepreneurship.

He said the funding agency has turned down good business proposals because the aspiring entrepreneur was not ready for the venture.

 “It is not about getting funding, we now focus on testing the ability of the person behind the business,” Mr Madeswi said.

He added that young people wanted to start big hence denying themselves the opportunity to grow and learn business.

He noted that the South East District was one of the areas where the agency had less invested.

He said 217 businesses in the district had been funded by CEDA to the tune of P131 million while creating 659 jobs.

 The figure, he said, included 37 youth owned businesses employing 69 people.

APEX chief executive officer, Mr Umesh Loona told the young people that there were many opportunities in the country and that what was lacking was entrepreneurship zeal.

He said no financial institution would finance a project if they were not certain to recover their money.

Mr Loona urged young people to continue working hard on their dreams until they realised them.

 The youth complained about funding and lack of operational space among others.  Ends