By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – In an effort to make it easy for the youth to do business, government is planning to rope in the government of New Zealand.
This was said by Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo in his offices today. Khumalo was asked to explain what rate in which the youth were registering their companies in the country.
The minister said the registration of businesses by the youth was slow because it was cumbersome. According to the minister, it was very difficult for the youth to register their businesses and the ministry was in the process of resolving the cumbersomeness by digitilising the company registration in the country, so that the youth could also take advantage of that.
Roping in New Zealand, according to the minister, would also help because the youth of that country found it easy to do business in that country. The minister said New Zealand was the first country, in terms of the ease of doing business in the world. That status of New Zealand, according to the minister, would help Eswatini learn a lot from them and improve the situation for the youth of Eswatini.
The minister believed that the costs were another factor that hindered the youth from registering their businesses in the country. He said most of the youth were unemployed, but had to find ways of paying for their companies to be registered. The minister was of the view that it did not make sense for the youth to find it expensive to register their businesses yet they were the ones who were expected to improve the country’s economy and create jobs for themselves and others.
Khumalo promised that the government was also going to implement a way of checking the businesses of the youth to ensure that they were mentored. He said there was a concern during Sibaya that it was difficult to start businesses in the country and it dawned to them that they had to track the small businesses so that they could see to it that they had access to finance. He said the finances could be include the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF), Regional Development Fund (RDF) and other funds within the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE).
