{"id":5233,"date":"2021-10-30T10:40:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T10:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths"},"modified":"2021-10-30T11:16:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T11:16:23","slug":"m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths","title":{"rendered":"M10 million \u2018war chest\u2019 to help youths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THE government is pumping M10 million into the Business Plan Competition (BPC) that will benefit 100 youth and women entrepreneurs. This follows a successful trial project launched in 2019 as part of efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and tackle youth unemployment which is estimated to be over 30 percent.<\/p>\n

The pilot project has since helped build 10 thriving businesses that have created nearly 30 jobs for youths and women. Each of the ten winners received M100 000 in prize money which came with training and incubation services to hand-hold the entrepreneurs through the initial stages of their businesses.<\/p>\n

The government is now building on that success to scale up the competition to develop more businesses. Plans are afoot to launch the next phase of the competition in which fifty (50) Basotho entrepreneurs will win M100 000 each.<\/p>\n

Another 50 will benefit in 2022 to bring the number of beneficiaries to 100 and the total outlay to M10 million over two years. The competition is managed by the Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO) and funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the government\u2019s Economic Diversification Support Project (EDSP).<\/p>\n

The programme is meant to assist budding entrepreneurs who have viable business ideas but lack funding. It focuses on providing access to finance, business development services, technical assistance and mentorship.<\/p>\n

Although lack of capital remains one of the biggest hurdles to starting a business, research shows that access to finance alone does not guarantee success.<\/p>\n

Every year start-ups with adequate financial backing collapse because owners, who are usually the business managers, lack the right management skills to make them sustainable and viable.<\/p>\n

The BPC competition seeks to address that knowledge gap by allocating a portion of the prize money for training, incubation and mentorship of the winners.<\/p>\n

Chaba Mokuku, project manager of the EDSP, says the BPC will unlock the potential of young and women entrepreneurs. \u201cYouth unemployment is a ticking time bomb which can only be diffused by developing more entrepreneurs to create jobs,\u201d Mokuku said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan now is to bring more private sector institutions to help the youth and women build businesses and create employment,\u201d Mokuku says.<\/p>\n

He says the competition is also crucial to efforts to revive the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic which has led to the collapse of many businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to invest in our youth and women if we want to create a sustainable future.<\/p>\n

\u201d He says the initial trial of BPC revealed that Basotho women \u201chave great business ideas but need a helping hand in terms of funding and training\u201d.<\/p>\n

Women were 70 percent of the top ten. Four of the winners were businesses that manufacture clothing, chemicals, candy and personal products. The other four are agribusinesses specialising in poultry, vegetable seedlings, dairy and eggs.<\/p>\n

Two are in education and renewable energy. Mokuku says these sectors are all focus areas of the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) II. \u201cWe are looking at diversifying the economy to create jobs, alleviate hunger, empower the vulnerable groups and grow the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201d
\nThe average age of the previous winners was 31 years, which is in line with the BPC\u2019s target.<\/p>\n

The top ten also revealed that there is a strong entrepreneurship spirit across the country with winners coming from Leribe (3), Quthing (1), Berea (1), Maseru (4) and Mafeteng (1).<\/p>\n

Hape Marite, 32, whose cosmetic company, BlackHair, was one of the inaugural winners, says winners should look beyond the prize money. \u201cThis is a total package.<\/p>\n

There is the funding to either start or grow your business. Then there is the training and the incubation which I consider crucial to any start-up,\u201d Marite says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incubation gives you that external eye that brings a new perspective to the business.<\/p>\n

\u201d
\nMarite says she used her prize money to buy new equipment to boost her production.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have accelerated our production because we have moved from a 4-litre mixer to a 30-litre mixer.<\/p>\n

\u201d
\nThe incubator is helping the hair product company to set up procurement, operations and quality assurance systems. BlackHair products are sold in several retail shops in Lesotho. The company also has an independent distributor in Cape Town and Polokwane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the competition is crucial to every young entrepreneur who wants to learn to accelerate their business,\u201d Marite says.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE government is pumping M10 million into the Business Plan Competition (BPC) that will benefit 100 youth and women entrepreneurs. This follows a successful trial project launched in 2019 as part of efforts to encourage entrepreneurship and tackle youth unemployment which is estimated to be over 30 percent. The pilot project has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[233,246,424,245,1014],"class_list":["post-5233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-government","tag-lesotho","tag-youths"],"yoast_head":"\nM10 million \u2018war chest\u2019 to help youths - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE government is pumping M10 million into the Business Plan Competition (BPC) that will benefit 100 youth and women ent ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M10 million \u2018war chest\u2019 to help youths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE government is pumping M10 million into the Business Plan Competition (BPC) that will benefit 100 youth and women ent ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-30T10:40:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-30T11:16:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/10\/img-617d29692a075.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"M10 million \u2018war chest\u2019 to help youths\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-30T10:40:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-30T11:16:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2021\/10\/img-617d29692a075.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"government\",\"Lesotho\",\"youths\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/m10-million-war-chest-to-help-youths\",\"name\":\"M10 million \u2018war chest\u2019 to help youths - 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