ENYC YOUTH COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP - ENYC

ENYC’s Youth Community Enterprise and Entrepreneurship proposed project to benefit a majority of young people in Lubombo and Shiselweni

“…youth […] form the majority of the unemployed, unskilled and are most likely to be poor…if nothing is done to address this situation, a lot more Swazis will enter the poverty bracket in the foreseeable future.” – Swaziland Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan

Stressing over the unemployment rate will soon be a thing of the past for the youth-based in the Lubombo and Shiselweni region after Eswatini National Youth Council (ENYC) has committed itself to deliver long-lasting solutions.

Upon discussions regarding to the project with possible partners it was discovered that there are a lot of negative effects, directly and indirectly, that come with youth unemployment. ENYC in partnership with several companies from these regions are to visit nearby communities with a mission of rolling out the youth community enterprise and entrepreneurship project. The program seeks to unfold the critical skills that the youth lack to identify opportunities and utilize them.

The program targets young people who have either completed their education, or dropped out before completion. This means participants will be required to only have basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills.

The Council introduced the program as means to support/advance the socio-economic development agenda of the youth as per its mandate. ENYC is mandated by the Government to reach out to the Youth at grassroots level, in all constituencies. The programs that the council is involved in are aimed at maximizing youth potential in the country by supporting every young person’s dream to become the best at whatever aspirations that they have.

With that said, the Council has observed the need to invest in mind-set change programs in the country. Over the years, the youth has been made to believe that, success is defined as the ability to complete tertiary education and enter into “the white collar” industry/community. Failure on the contrary is considered as the inability to complete school, thereby being labelled as the non-productive member of society.

Therefore, the council has taken it upon them to break the cycles of poverty among the youth of Eswatini and promote the entrepreneurship model as an active contributor to financial freedom.

The program will provide the youth with the following:

1. Skills required in assessing opportunities and taking advantage of opportunities – through career skills, vocational skills and enterprise skills training.

2. Aid in the identification of opportunities, through experiential business exercises and assessments, business plan development skills as well as workforce development.

3. Build the confidence of young women and men to live independently, through life skills training on communication skills, personal financial management, sexual and reproductive health and livelihood.

4. Seed capital through grants, not loans. This offer will encourage the young person without inflicting pressure to raise money to cover the loan which will result in profits and demands for venturing into business being unrecognized.