The Sunday News
Faith Phiri Sunday News Reporter
BUY Zimbabwe has launched a job placement programme that intends to recruit more than 250 interns in a bid to help young people appreciate entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. The programme will target youths from Bulawayo, Midlands, Harare and Manicaland who will be offered jobs as interns within the Buy Zimbabwe member organisations, an official said during the launch of the programme last week.
Buy Zimbabwe chief economist Mr Kipson Gundani said the programme will start next month with an initial target of between 250 and 800 interns depending on the number the companies are willing to accommodate them.
“The job placement is a national campaign that will expose young people to processes that happen within companies in Zimbabwe, provide a platform for experiential job related learning through facilitating internships and where applicable provide relevant life skills, such as leadership, hard work, creative thinking, entrepreneurship and communication skills through a series of tailor-made mentorship and training seminars facilitated by carefully selected experts,” said Mr Gundani.
He said the programme will promote females who are set to get 60 percent of the slots.
“It will help the trained interns develop employability skills for better formal employment chances.
“Our engagement is important to ensure that young people get an opportunity to realise their employability dreams.”
Last year Buy Zimbabwe ran a campaign “Consumption today — Employment tomorrow”.
The campaign was conducted in tertiary institutions around the country targeting all students and conscientising them about the importance and economic benefits of consuming locally produced goods and services.
The campaign was aimed at leveraging on the influence and spending power of tertiary education students and promoting the consumption of local products.
An independent survey revealed that 768 000 students at tertiary institutions in the country spent more than $650 million annually on daily personal needs, excluding fees, accommodation, and transport.
