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Old Mutual Youth Development Fund: Did we celebrate too early
Youth Forum
April 02, 2012

The Kurera-Ukondla Youth Fund was launched on November 24 2011 by Vice President Joyce Mujuru, at a memorable occasion with the indigenisation minister holding a cardboard cheque of $11 million amid pomp and funfair. The launch was celebrated and lauded from all angles of society as a noble initiative that was going to provide relief to the ever-marginalised young men and women of Zimbabwe.

It is no secret that today it is almost a curse to be young. Anyone who wants to offer any form of assistance to people who wish to start and run their own enterprises always places one requirement that is not friendly to the youths of Zimbabwe: Collateral. While it is understandable that private players would want collateral for the capital they inject into businesses, it is mind-boggling how the government expects young people to have the collateral for loans as little as US$1,000. By virtue of being young, we have not had the opportunity to own the properties they require as collateral and the Old Mutual Youth Development Fund came with a difference that led to all stakeholders celebrating as no collateral was required.

The elimination of the collateral requirement gave many of us reasons to celebrate, and we did not realise that there was still a lot of work to be done if real youth empowerment is to be achieved, even with the US$11m Old Mutual was offering. It will not be greatly misplaced or misguided if we are to conclude now, four months after the fund was launched, that we celebrated too early as the fund has not benefited the young men and women of Zimbabwe.

Amidst the celebrations, no one realised that no proper and efficient structures were put in place to ensure that deserving applicants access the loans. Whilst the Indigenization and Empowerment drive has a body that works to regulate and spearhead the initiative, no such institution existed for the Youth Development Fund. The Youth Forum calls for the establishment of such a board comprising of young people from all walks of life who are qualified for the different duties they will be assigned to and will be responsible for analysing business proposals and approving of loans.

The board should be responsible for spearheading the distribution and monitoring of all Youth Development Funds in the same manner the David Chapfika-headed Indigenization and Economic empowerment Board is running the current indigenization drive.

The inception of such a board will allow for quick disbursements of all youth funds, a development that will auger well with the needs of the youths. With the current setup, four months after the launch, only US$229,325-61 has been disbursed, a mere 2% of the total fund available. What this means is that over US$10.5m meant to benefit youths is still lying in some office there while the youths are suffering in the streets.

The board will also be responsible for ensuring that the fund's administration is transparent, fair, non-partisan, not corruptible and above all, youth-friendly and youth sensitive. It will also be the duty of the body to ensure that all recipients of the fund have been well-trained in fields like business management and entrepreneurship to ensure that all enterprises established under or supported by the Fund remain sustainable and viable. This comes against the reality that some youths are literally 'buying' proposals that make the grade when they do not have the basic skills to run businesses resulting in their initiatives crumbling before they even take off, a scenario that will result in non-repayment of the loans granted.

Still in a bid to ensure the sustainability of the enterprises established under the Fund, it is imperative for the government to come up with protectionism policies aimed at ensuring that the newly formed enterprises get business. This can be achieved through a number of ways including giving preference to the formed organizations in all government tenders and ensuring that other established and big corporates get a certain quota of their requirements from the newly formed enterprises. Such policies will stimulate the exponential growth of the created entities and will help them to remain sustainable and eventually result in the Fund benefiting more youths.

The government is also encouraged to investigate cases of corruption involving some CABS officials approaching youths saying they can facilitate their access to the loans provided they get US$2,000 of the US$5,000. Such abuse of office should never go unchallenged and all implicated in the scandal should be brought to book as their actions are only helping to continually marginalise the young men and women of Zimbabwe. It becomes very difficult for the recipient of the loan to pay back if he loses 40% of the principal to unscrupulous CABS employees.

The Youth Forum urges the government, the Youth Ministry, the Zimbabwe Youth Council, CABS Bank, Old Mutual to come up with a strategy that will see the current Youth Fund being disbursed timeously and to the right and intended beneficiaries without favour or prejudice. They should also investigate all allegations of corruption, partisan distribution, and lack of transparency and openness that has been witnessed in the distribution of the fund.

Visit the Youth Forum fact sheet

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