Mpumalanga premier announces advanced stages of youth fund
Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane said the Mpumalanga Youth Development Fund is aimed at supporting job creation initiatives and enterprise development by the youth.
The disbursement of funds to support youth enterprises in Mpumalanga is at an advanced stage.
The Mpumalanga Provincial Government established the Mpumalanga Youth Development Fund (MYDF) as one of the measures to confront youth unemployment. The MYDF is a three-year pilot project aimed at supporting job creation initiatives and enterprise development by the youth.
In the 2021/22 financial year, Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane announced a R90m allocation for the realisation of the youth’s employment aspirations.
By end of the fourth quarter of the period under review, more than R81m had been transferred to the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency for disbursement to 64 companies, which were approved through a rigorous process of adjudication and verification.
In the 2022/23 financial year, Mtshweni-Tsipane announced a R60m allocation during the State of the Province Address to cater for a new intake, with May 20 set as a deadline for new applications.
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“We have doubled our efforts to disburse funds allocated through the MYDF, and this has yielded positive results. Both the adjudication and verification processes are conducted with integrity on youth-owned enterprises to ensure that only legitimate applications that meet the set criteria, are approved,” the premier stated.
Mtshweni-Tsipane said of the 60 beneficiaries, 21 are from Ehlanzeni and Nkangala districts respectively, while 18 of them are from the Gert Sibande District.
“The supported enterprises are in various sectors such as farming, mining and transportation and create job opportunities, targeting the youth. I am adamant that through the MYDF intervention, the Provincial Government will flatten the high youth unemployment curve in the province,” she said.
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She said more interventions to address youth unemployment will be explored through the Mpumalanga Economic Reconstruction and Recovery.
