Nampula youth look for support to create businesses

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Nampula youth look for support to create businesses

1:29 CAT | 30 Mar 2017

DW / Young people engage in informal trade in the Nampula market.

Officials in Nampula in northern Mozambique say a hundred young people are waiting for funding and expect to receive about EUR11,000 euros from the government this year.

Young people engage in informal trade in the Nampula market.

Last year, Manuel Joaquim proposed building a poultry farm for 150,000 meticais (EUR 2,000). The enterprise would employ up to six young people in a first phase. “One who would be watching over the chickens, another would be cleaning, and three more would be collecting the chickens to sell in different places,” he explains.

The project, however, has not so far got beyond the planning stage. Manuel is still waiting for a response from the Provincial Youth Directorate, which grants the funds.

“When we submitted the project, they told us to wait and that in three months, we would hear about financing, but so far we have not heard anything,” he says.

Over 100 young people waiting

Mosambik, Unternehmer Milagre Zacarias (DW/S. Lutxeque) — Milagre Zacarias, a young businessman from Nampula

According to officials, last year more than a hundred young entrepreneurs submitted projects to the Provincial Youth Directorate in order to set up their own businesses and create jobs in the province. But they are still waiting for funding.

Milagre Zacarias has a vocational training school, but says that, so far, he has not received any support from the state. “I have tried twice to get funding through the Youth Initiatives Support Fund, but I have never had a concrete answer. The most recent proposal I made was to extend vocational technical education training to districts in the province of Nampula.”

Zacarias is asking the state to grant microcredit to young entrepreneurs. The unemployment rate in the province is high, especially among young people.

Government asks for patience

The provincial government acknowledges delays in responding to requests for funding, but says that, faced with the economic crisis in the country, it has been difficult to answer all requests.

According to Raúl Cachimo, provincial director of Youth and Sports in Nampula, the central government has not sent the necessary funds.

“Last year we could not fund any projects because there was no allocation [from the central government] and about 100 projects which were sent to our institution are still with us. We are hoping that this year everything will go well and we can go ahead with finance.”

This year, Nampula provincial government expects to receive more than 800,000 meticais (EUR 11,000) from the Youth Initiatives Support Fund.

Source: Deutsche Welle