14 Dec 2023

About 2 768 youth-owned businesses were funded through the Youth Development Fund (YDF) from financial year 2019/2020 to 2022/2023.

Answering a question in Parliament, the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture Mr Tumiso Rakgare, said of the 2 768 funded projects, 2 534 were still operational with 214 of them successfully servicing their loans.

Mr Rakgare explained that the causes of failure of YDF businesses varied but noted that inadequate operational space and high rentals for youth businesses have been determined to be leading causes.

This included lack of commitment and discipline by some beneficiaries after funds had been approved and an inadequate market.

Mr Rakgare said the YDF had been relocated to the Ministry of Entrepreneurship while the youth ministry was tasked with implementing it this year only for continuity of service.

Gaborone North MP, Mr Mpho Balopi, had wanted to know the number of youth funded between June 2019 and June 2023, the number of businesses that were still operational and whether the causes of failure of these businesses had been determined.

He also asked whether YDF would be upgraded in future to make it more responsive to current realities and youth interests. Ends