By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – In what might be good news to the Youth Fund beneficiaries, it is possible to access the Regional Development Fund (RDF) through the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF).
YERF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mandla Nkambule says Eswatini youth could access the money offered through the RDF.
Nkambule disclosed this last week Thursday during the meet-and-greet session with the Eswatini Positive News (EPN) staff in Mbabane.
Nkambule said he was aware of the challenging conditions that have to be met for the youth to access RDF.
The conditions require Emaswati, especially the youth in this case, to form a cooperative or any other organization when they apply for RDF.
The CEO explained that members of that organization/cooperative had to raise at least 10 per cent of the required start-up capital.
He said the conditions could be met through accessing a start-up financial capital offered by YERF, before applying for the one offered by RDF.
He said this regarding the youth who had a dream of starting a bigger business, such as a filling station or a company that produced vehicle tyres.
He said the youth could present a viable business plan to YERF to access E150 000 so that they could access more than E950 000 from the RDF. By so doing, Nkambule said the youth could have more than E1 million as start-up capital for much bigger businesses.
According to Nkambule, such businesses could be suitable for the youth who stay in urban areas because they do not have much access to factors of production such as land.
However, that was not to say people who were not from such areas could not access the RDF, through YERF. Nkambule pleaded with YERF beneficiaries to continue improving their businesses, so that they could contribute to improving the economy of the country.
The CEO challenged beneficiaries of the Youth Fund to tell other people about the opportunities provided by YERF so that more of the Eswatini youth could benefit. By so doing, Nkambule said, the youth would be ambassadors of the opportunities provided by his organization.
He said the more the youth benefitted from the opportunities provided by YERF, the more the youth unemployment would be alleviated. Nkambule said what was good about starting businesses was that many other people would be employed. The employment of other people would help because it could alleviate the level of crime in the country.
How do small business apply for loan