KANYAMAZANE – In an effort to create awareness about business opportunities which the state has available for the youth, the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS), held a youth summit over the weekend to address this.

Speaking to this publication, Mr Wandile Ndlovu, who is part of a cooperative – Intsimuyami Agricultural – which consists of six members who benefited from a government programme, encouraged the youth to attend such event because they were informative and would create opportunities for them.

He added that their coop which dealt with vegetables, macadamia nuts and chickens, had created 20 jobs since its establishment. “We are also in the process of venturing into agri- tourism – a tourism destination within the farm,” said Ndlovu.

The Youth Development Agency’s (NYDA), Mr Sakhele Ngwambe, said that their role in the summit was to inform the youth how and where they could access their programmes. He also indicated that the Nyda has recently launched a grant programme that was still being rolled out in other provinces.

“This event is all about creating awareness about opportunities that are available for the youth,” said GCIS’ Mr Jerry Nkosi, adding that this came amid their realisation that most of the youth were unemployed and the only way to address the problem was to involve them in government programmes.

“We also realised that some of them were not even aware of these plans,” he concluded.