During a youth financial literacy training aimed at imparting business skills at Mzuzu’s Entrepreneurship Hub, it was revealed that the National Youth Council of Malawi (Nycom).

Nycom Chief Executive Officer Dingiswayo Jere outlined that through the youth basket fund, K30 million has been raised so far, as 670 young entrepreneurs have been trained. Jere therefore challenged youth in the country to embrace entrepreneurship over white color jobs in the wake of high unemployment.

Acknowledging that access to finance is a major challenge for young entrepreneurs; Nycom is discussing with commercial banks to offer tailor-made loans with lower interest rates for the youth. “We have also been working with Malawi Enterprise Development Fund to have tailor-made youth products which have now been initiated,” said Jere.

Last year, National Bank of Malawi (NBM) conducted a Youth Entrepreneurs training, where the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Macfussy Kawawa, said that since the majority of Malawi’s population are the youth, the training was means of involving them in the financial cycles. Kawawa said the bank expected number of youths accessing their services to grow as the bank brings tailor-made services and products to entrepreneurs.