The Sunday News
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Correspondent
IN a move that is set to empower pupils and school leavers, a local businessman and entrepreneur has set up an empowerment initiative that will provide seed capital for viable income-generating projects in schools as well as enhance entrepreneurship skills.
Dubbed the Junior achievement initiative, the programme seeks to identify viable projects that will be proposed by different schools and give seed capital for the projects. The programme is set to start in Term Two and will see schools from Matabeleland North and South as well as those from Bulawayo benefiting.
The programme that is in a competition format will see a set of judges selecting the best three proposals of viable projects per province that will benefit from a revolving seed capital fund.
There are many studies that suggest that the environment you grow up in affects who you become. As such it is Mr Wellington Makonya’s desire together with his company, Gold Phoenix Stationery, to ensure children from primary level are instilled with entrepreneurship skills at a tender age.
Speaking to Sunday News he said: “We are trying to sponsor schools through what we call Junior achievement initiative which will see them writing business proposals that are viable to their schools.
We as a company will then choose the most viable project. The selected schools will then be given what we call seed money or capital to start their projects.
Our idea is to do this on a yearly basis so as to cultivate business ideas among school students from primary level right up to tertiary level. So the whole idea is to make it like a competition where schools write proposals and we select the best three.”
Inspired by the desire to empower young people, Mr Makonya said they had already registered a Private Voluntary Organisation that is set to empower school leavers.
“What we will do is to give the most viable and profitable project some seed capital. That money will be revolving year in year out, in order to instil the business mindset in these pupils so that when they grow up they do not aim to be employed, but to start their own businesses. We have also registered a PVO that seeks to help empower school leavers start up projects,” said Mr Makonya.
Entrepreneurship has over the past year emerged as a pivotal sector in individuals livelihoods and the nation’s economy. — @nyeve14
