By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – The youth from Mbabane East Constituency had a good day today when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was presented to them.
The opportunity was presented to them by their Constituency Council, under the leadership of their Member of Parliament (MP) Welcome Dlamini and BSA Training Centre. The opportunity is for the youth to enroll for a course in entrepreneurship, which is presented by BSA Training Centre.
This was revealed to the youth today when they had a meeting with their Constituency Council and the officials from BSA Training Centre. The meeting was at Mater Dolorosa (MDS) High School Hall.
According to BSA Training Centre CEO Sandile Fakudze, the entrepreneurship programme was meant for the people, particularly the youth, to equip themselves with skills necessary to run their own businesses. He said the skills were needed so that the nation could have access to the funds set up by Government for Emaswati to generate their income.
Fakudze said the course was E3 800 and its duration was six weeks. However, for the programme to be accessible to the masses, they decided to compress it to two weeks, at a cost of E650. He said they usually enrolled 30 people, but the council asked that they enroll 40. The council also asked that the people who were also outside of the youth bracket should be enrolled as well.
Fakudze said this was done in the spirit of ‘Nkwe’ which was commanded by His Majesty King Mswati III during the closure of Sibaya last year. The word ‘Nkwe’ is a SiSwati slang meant that a person or people should run as fast as they can. It can also be used for people to be fast when doing things. It was under that spirit that BSA took its services to the people for them to receive as fast as they can.
MP Welcome Dlamini thanked the BSA officials for availing this opportunity. Dlamini pleaded with the youth to grab this opportunity with both hands because not everyone had the opportunity they had. Dlamini said Government had funds such as the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF), Regional Development Fund (RDF) and other funds, which were meant for Emaswati to start income-generating projects.
Unfortunately, such funds could not be accessed because the youth did not know how to run businesses. Dlamini’s words were echoed by Mbabane East Indvuna Yenkhundla Phindile Maziya and Constituency Councillor Lwazi Dlamini, who also spoke on behalf of other cpnstituency councillors under Mbabane East.
Dlamini also announced a course, where the youth would be taught how to make products such as soaps, tissue oil, roll-ons, sta-soft, dagga hair food, shoe polish, among other products. Dlamini said this course would be for one day and it would last for four days. The course, according to Dlamini, was E200. He promised to pay E100 for each of the people who would show interest in the course, meaning each one of them would pay E100.
BSA Human Resources Manager Lindokuhle Shongwe, who is also the coordinator of the BSA Entrepreneurship Programme, said these courses were related, even though they did not come from the same institution. Shongwe encouraged the youth to start by taking part in the entrepreneurship programme, so that they could apply that knowledge, which they would need, in the other course.
