DENEYSVILLE – The Metsimaholo Local Municipality (MLM), together with other government departments and private stakeholders embarked on a two-day youth summit in Deneysville.
Scores of young people graced the Refengkgotso community hall, where business advice was dished to the floor.
Several engagements took place as organizations and departments such as Youth Life Matters, Social Development, My Consultants, Seda, and Agriculture Department among many others gave inputs on how the youth can grow their small businesses and alleviate poverty in their respective communities.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster on the sidelines, Businesswoman and host of the summit, Violet Disten, said the unemployment rate in Free State is very high compared to other provinces, hence the need for the summit.
“The aim of this summit is to make sure that young people create job opportunities for themselves seemingly the Free State is sitting at a 34% unemployment rate.
“Young people are meeting with stakeholders to get help in growing their businesses and the scourge of unemployment in our communities,” she said.
Disten said there are other avenues the youth can try except the usual jobs like tekkie wash, car wash, and more.
“Ours is to focus on reducing social ills in the communities, young people should be able to identify them and create jobs to end them. We teach young people how they can come up with innovative ways to boost their ordinary businesses. There are new industries they can try, including agriculture. Many think this field of business is for elders who are bored, there is more to learn here,” she said.
Industry professionals focusing more on agriculture as a chosen industry of choice gave motivation on why young people should venture into this newly chosen path.
The MLM Mayor Jeff Zwane, formed part of the summit on its last day, giving a keynote address and motivation to the gathered crowd.
“This is a very important meeting for a black child. You must participate actively in this programme because the future is in your hands. Coming here in your numbers shows that you want to be big in business. You must not believe that working for companies is something great, you must continue to believe in creating jobs for you and those in your communities,” he said.
