Umdoni Local Municipality equips youth to be business savvy
A number of small business owners have benefited from municipal engagements.
Umdoni youth recently participated in a Career, Skills Development and Youth Dialogue aimed at equipping them with tools that will lead to the end of the youth unemployment scourge.
Leaders of Umdoni youth structures engaged in this session, and stated that young people should be able to create and take advantage of opportunities to grow and make a difference in their communities.
Addressing the hundreds of youth in attendance, the mayor Mbali Cele-Luthuli, said the municipality is investing in initiatives that build bridges between learning and working.
“We’re rolling out career expos, internship programmes, and partnerships with technical colleges, local businesses and training institutions,” she said.
“Our goal is to equip the youth with the tools, the training and the confidence to create their own opportunities.”
Youth development initiatives in the current financial year alone has benefited the locals with registration fee assistance to 60 students, sewing machine handovers to 10 female youth, a three-year plumbing training course for 81 youth who are now in their final year, and a carpentry training course for 11 young people.
Also, last Friday 68 small business owners received requested equipment for their businesses, courtesy of the municipality and the Department of Small Business Enterprise.
Of the benefitting businesses, 29 are youth-owned. The municipality assisted businesses in various sectors which include hair salons, catering, car washes, décor, seamstresses, bakeries, grass cutters and brick making, among others.
Cele-Luthuli said the municipality together with the Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni- Abrahams, will conduct an impromptu visit to beneficiaries to ascertain that business are progressing.
“The growth of one business feeds a number of families and that is why as the sphere of government closest to the people, we prioritise assisting business as this positively contributes to the local economy,” added Cele-Luthuli.
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