Africa-Press – Botswana. The office of the Member of Parliament for Francistown East has established a secretariat that will offer free secretarial services to the youth who apply for Youth Development Fund (YDF).
Speaking on behalf of the area MP Mr Buti Billy during a one-day youth empowerment seminar in Francistown on Tuesday, the Cllr for Itekeng, Mr Lesego Kwambala, said about 300 youth will be assisted through the office, which is situated at the MP constituency office.
He said this decision was taken to make sure no one was disadvantaged and also to encourage the youth to empower themselves.
The councilor encouraged youth to be creative and stop applying for already existing businesses but instead, come up with bankable ideas that were unique.
Mr Kwambala said the problem with youth is that they invested their efforts and energy on the wrong channels, especially social media.
He said social media should be used to empower youth and bridge the unemployment gap.
“Social media is a platform that can equip youth with new ideas if used properly,” he said.
He highlighted agriculture was one of the key sectors to invest in to help the country attain food security.
Mr Kwambala, therefore, advised the youth to invest in agriculture with a changed mindset to add value to the already existing business ideas with unique branding and better presentation.
Cllr Kwambala also advised the youth to familiarize themselves with writing proposals; something he said would assist them own such proposals during interviews.
He said it was discouraging that the youth usually failed to demonstrate understanding whenever they represented their proposals during interviews before adjudicators, a thing he said suggested that someone was doing everything on their behalf.
He thus urged the youth to approach YDF with a changed mindset this year if they wanted their businesses to be funded.
The seminar was held under the theme “bridging the youth employment gap through mindset change” to equip the youth with the necessary information to apply for the Youth Development Fund (YDF).
Cllr Kwambala said the seminar presented the youth with an opportunity to transform their lives for the better.
For her part, the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture (MYSC) Programme Officer, Ms Batshegi Seleke, said the youth should submit their proposals well on time to allow officials ample time to assess the forms and make sure that everything was in order.
Moreover, Ms Seleke advised the youth to do proper market research before applying to undertake any form of business.
“The application forms and assessment guidelines are available at all MYSC offices country-wide,” she noted.
Ms Seleke said also that the MYSC offered one on one consultation services to help the applicants’ clear challenges that may arise.
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