Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The national Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Albino Bol Dhieu, has called on young entrepreneurs to prepare for refundable cash loans from the ministry.
He said the loans would be given out soon and the recipients would be refunded without interest.
Dr Albino further said it was time for young people with true entrepreneurial ideas, talents, and competencies to take advantage of the opportunity to table business ideas to obtain funds.
“I have good news for the youngsters. “As the ministry of youth and sports, I am pleased to announce that USAID is now sponsoring youth companies and capacity initiatives that will be launched in a week by the president of the Republic,” he said.
He made the statement during the launch of one of the youth’s capacity-building initiatives on Monday, in Juba.
Avoid chaos
Dr. Albino said as the government and its partners organise a commission to oversee the equitable and fair distribution of refundable youth entrepreneurship loans, young people must avoid violence and focus their efforts on good things.
“The notion of youth entrepreneurship and capacity development initiatives is that the ministry would grant refundable loans to young people who have entrepreneurial ideas and have business visibility studies with the grand aim of repaying them,” he stressed.
“As young people, the best thing we can do is abandon violence and work for the wellbeing of our country’s people. You will be schooled in business in a variety of disciplines, including agricultural businesses such as livestock production, microfinance programs, and other unique businesses.”
However, Dr. Albino said the loan is fully refundable and with zero interest, and that whoever fails to refund it will face legal action.
“The president is now trying to establish an entrepreneurship fund, and I believe USAID will be one of the partners because we need to make sure the fund reaches the proper people at the grassroots level.”
According to Dr. Bol, the ministry has secured an amount of US $9.2 million in cash at hand from the African Development Bank, and the president is soon expected to release $5 million as initial funding.
“And the World Bank is going to provide the US $40 million in August this year, while USAID will inject not less than the US $30 million into the same projects, and we hope others who are willing to help South Sudan will do the same.”
He said they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UNDP, and they are now working on terms of reference on how they could distribute the fund.
”If you don’t have business sense, you’ll fail, and if you fail, we’ll put you in jail, because that’s a public fund that will be used to support your colleagues who didn’t get the chance in the first place,” he warned.
He said only six states are expected to benefit from the 9.2 million US dollars.
The states include Lakes, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Upper Nile and Pibor Administrative Area.
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