YERF expects increase in budget allocation

The Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF) is hoping for an increased budget allocation for youth empowerment through business start-ups.

Minister of Finance 1eal RiMkenberg is expected to deliver his budget speech in 3ar liament on Friday.

The fund gets an annual allocation of about E1 million.

YERF Chief Executive Officer/Fund Man ager Mandla 1kambule said he was hopeful that this year’s budget would take the same shape as last year’s, which prioritised young people and made them the centre of economic development.

1kambule mentioned that they had observed an increase in the demand for loans from young people, as they currently had over 000 applications and it was from that position that the entity was anticipating an improved budget allocation.

Sustainability

Another aspect that makes the entity hope ful of an increased budget allocation is that the focus was now on the capacity building for business sustainability, so much so that YERF signed a memorandum of understanding Mo8 with the 6mall Enterprise 'evelopment Company 6E'CO , to have potential bene ficiaries trained before being given the loans.

The training part has been made a mandatory aspect in the loan requirements, as revealed by 1kambule during the signing of the Mo8 yesterday.

1kambule said the training would not only mitigate business failures, but also ensure the sustainability of the businesses.

Beneficiaries

1kambule said they were looking to have 200 beneficiaries approved in the current financial year, as there was E . million in the pipeline to be loaned out, and had close to 120 benefi ciaries between now and March.

,t should be stated that Eswatini has a young population and suffers from high youth un employment, which sits at .2 per cent with almost one in two youths unemployed.

6E'CO CEO .hethiwe Mhlanga said there was a need to change the mindset of the youth, because a lot of them perceived entrepreneur ship as path towards a flashy lifestyle and they were more on survival than creating a legacy.

³:e have to encourage our youth to make strides for our economy and persevere. They should understand that our economy can only grow if they put in the effort, hence we will make sure that they get the coaching that they need, even on diversifying their business,´ she said.