Welcome remarks by Kwazulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala during a virtual breakfast engagement with recipients of the Youth Fund, 29 June 2021
Good Morning to you all and thank you heartily for joining us this morning.
To all beneficiaries of the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Fund, I wish to remind you that the ANC-led government and all the people of KwaZulu-Natal have a keen interest to see you all succeed in your business initiatives.
You are a cornerstone of the inclusive, radically transformed economy that we are building brick by brick with the people of KwaZulu-Natal. You carry the hope of restoring the dignity of our people through sustainable and decent job creation. Whatever the odds that you may face, you must never forget that many young people look up to you for strength and inspiration.
It is in this spirit of our invested success in all of you that we decided to call this meeting to hear from you directly on both the successes and the challenges that you are facing as you implement your projects. Although we are meeting virtually as we are faced with the real threat of COVID-19, we hope that you will still be able to use the engagement to network with other entrepreneurs who are in the programme. It is important that beyond today, you continue to engage one another and support each other within the entrepreneurial ecosystem that we seek to build.
As we continue to support the KZN Youth Fund and encourage more young people to apply for support from our government, please remember that your group which is the first to receive funding from us, will always be important because you serve as a standard bearer. Other groups must learn from your struggles and failures how to do things differently. They should also take your successes and replicate them.
Please tell your friends and other young people that the advert or call for the second round of application for youth fund will be released on the 1st July 2021 and it will run for 30 days. This will be on local newspapers and KZN Government social media pages. Applications to be collected and dropped at the Edtea district offices in the province. Application will also be available online.
Circumstances, including the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, have deprived us of the opportunity for regular engagements and feedback. I am aware that enterprises are visited on quarterly basis in order to provide aftercare support, check on enterprise progress and provide additional support where necessary. Legislature oversight committees also perform an oversight on youth enterprises on quarterly basis accompanied by EDTEA and OTP staff. But beyond these measures, we should also plan for more direct engagement with at least the MEC for EDTEA, the MEC for Agriculture and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
With the acceleration of our country’s vaccination programme and the better deployment of ICTs, we should now be able to regularise our engagement so that we can be able to address challenges more speedily. I hope that our meeting today will enable us to regularise our engagements and to agree on the frequency of such each year.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you will recall that our province is a pioneer of the Youth Fund initiative in South Africa. This is a provincial flagship program led by the Office of the Premier. The KZN Youth Fund serves as a catalytic funding to business ventures created and owned by young people across the length and breadth of this province. It is also aligned to the Provincial Youth Economic Empowerment Strategy.
In 2019, we began implementing the first tranche of KZN Youth Fund which saw 53 youth enterprises benefiting from the KZN Youth Fund and contributing to about 408 jobs. The total approval was R69 million. The disbursement to youth enterprises began in January 2020. Some disbursements were interrupted by lockdown and picked up after the ease of the lockdown.
We have learned that some business managed to strive during this pandemic while others are still struggling to recover. Today’s engagement should give us a better picture on the additional support that is required to rescue these businesses and to strengthen those that are doing well.
We cannot overemphasise that the resources that have been invested in you belong to the people of KwaZulu-Natal. We must work together to ensure that there is a return on investments on the scarce resources that the people of KwaZulu-Natal have entrusted us with. As government, we are unambiguous that the path to support black youth-owned enterprises is the correct one. Our faith in the youth is unshakable. Our belief that SMMEs are catalyst for economic growth and job creation is informed by evidence from successful economies across the globe. In this regard, we continue to have faith in all of you that with your success, you will make your families and the people of our province truly proud.
I do not wish to pre-empt our discussion this morning. But from the reports that we are receiving, it is clear that we need to strengthen the aftercare support. It is clear that as government departments, we need to be better coordinated to offer the kind of support that you need. Our government also needs to improve synergies and collaborate better to enable you to access markets, including procurement from the state where necessary and where appropriate.
While many are consumed by negativity, doom and gloom, it is important that you as entrepreneurs should turn problems into solutions and make profit out of them. It is in the nature of successful entrepreneurs to always translate odds and misfortunes into fortunes and opportunities. Please read as much as possible on the many successful entrepreneurs that Africa and the world has produced and be inspired by them. Many of them, you will realise, were able to beat the odds without much or any support from the state or their governments.
One such entrepreneur that I wish you to read about is 60 year old Strive Masiyiwa, a UK-based Zimbabwean billionaire and philanthropist. He is the founder of the international technology company, Econet Global. You can follow him on social media, including Facebook.
Mr Masiyiwa had to fight his own government in Zimbabwe in courts to get a telecoms licence. He also had to be engaged in similar battles in Nigeria. He started his own business from his savings and kept investing back in his business. If there is one word that he never leaves out when talks about entrepreneurship to the youth of Africa and the world, it is “innovation” and he insists that every entrepreneur must also have at least a website. He insists that you must continue improving your skills and that you must join business associations so that you can be able to learn from others and benchmark yourself.
In his capacity as Chair of the African Union, President Ramaphosa appointed him last year in May to assist Africa to source personal protection equipment (PPE) for the continent. Strive Masiya is one businessman who still shows that you can be a successful entrepreneur without being corrupt or compromising your integrity. He holds a firm belief that the young entrepreneurs on our continent will change the fortunes of Africa.
Addressing the Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture in October 2019, Strive Masiyiwa remarked that, “We have to start to build businesses. We almost have to start building businesses when we’re in high school because if we don’t, everything we fought and hoped for is on the line.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, before I finish my introductory remarks, allow me to leave you with the following five citations from this Zimbabwean born entrepreneur whose roots are firmly in Africa while he maintains a global business perspective.
In his words,
1. You can only find opportunities if you are looking for them.
2. A vision on its own is not enough. Hard work and dedication is required to make that vision a reality.
3. The opportunity is in the problem. The moment I see a problem, I immediately begin to think about the opportunities that can be created by trying to solve it.
4. If you are working or you are running a business you have to set aside time and money to invest in your continued formal education and skills acquisition.
5. Whether you're a farmer, builder or engineer, the opportunities are equal: Just add a little innovation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, among you in this room are future Strive Masiyiwa’s, Don Mkhwanazi’s, and Mamkhize’s. It can be done, and it must be done. Failure is not an option. Africa and our country needs you and wants to see you all succeed so that we can restore our dignity, our humanity, and our former glory. We stand ready as your government to support your dreams.
Keep safe from Covid-19 and other dangers.
Together Growing KwaZulu-Natal!
I thank you.
