Mozambique: Mozal’s Nhluvuko finances youth-led enterprises with 3.9 million meticais

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Mozambique: Mozal’s Nhluvuko finances youth-led enterprises with 3.9 million meticais

12:03 CAT | 12 Aug 2024

File photo: Nhluvuko

Nhluvuko, an initiative financed by Mozal and managed by Gapi, has financed 17 micro-enterprises run by young people in less than six months in the sum of 3.9 million meticais. The financing was granted after training and assistance in formalising and managing businesses, which covered 82 candidates elected from a list of around 3,000 applicants.

Edwina Ferro, central coordinator of the Nhluvuko project, who shared this information, explained that the project was launched in September, 2023.

“Before financing began, meticulous information work covering 15 neighbourhoods in the districts of Boane and Matola was carried out, with the involvement of local authorities. It has involved many hours of patient work on the ground,” she explained.

The methodology adopted to implement the project is part of an agreement approved by the Mozal and Gapi boards based on the experience that Gapi has developed over three decades as a development finance institution.

READ: Mozambique: Mozal and Gapi train entrepreneurs from Matola and Boane

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“To promote young people as entrepreneurs, it is essential to identify those who have an entrepreneurial mind-set and the capacity for persistence. These individual skills are complemented by management knowledge and assistance in formalising projects that demonstrate the technical and financial viability of the businesses that apply for financing,” Ferro said.

“We prefer to say that, for now, there are only 17 new businesses,” she added. “Is that not enough? We are still at the beginning. Even so, these are initiatives that we are professionally supporting to be sustainable investments in companies owned by young people, generating a hundred jobs. And, in less than six months, creating and growing these dozen and a half new companies with just 3.9 million meticais is more important and honest than the propaganda that circulates about millions in money benefiting or distributing to thousands of young people. As a manager at Gapi, I know that our institution does not participate in, nor accepts participating in, these types of activities.”

Ferro said that, after the preparatory work had been carried out, including the installation and operation of digital channels for communication, training and the processing of financing dossiers, the pace of involvement of more young people would be accelerated.

“And, as a challenge in the marketing we do in the communities covered, although we have already achieved good results in terms of the involvement of young women, as they are already at around 30%, I believe that we can still improve this component of inclusion and gender equality.”

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In response to a question about the main lesson learned from this project, Edwina commented: “The partnership between Mozal and Gapi is an example of sustainable social responsibility for megaprojects. The so-called social responsibility cannot be welfare activities without sustainability. Unfortunately, managers of large companies, unlike Mozal, have not yet assumed or understood that they must and can obtain results with the resources they dedicate to corporate social responsibility.”

Source: Nhluvuko