Having completed the Be Your Own Boss component of USAID’s Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) programme, 70 young men and women were yesterday awarded individual grants of $200,000 to start their own businesses.
At the graduation ceremony yesterday, Youth Self-Empowerment Manager Karen Raphael said there was an overwhelming number of youths who opted to be trained under the BYOB component. However, with a participation number of 275 youths, and 112 business proposals, USAID was only able to fund 70 businesses.
Raphael explained that each recipient’s proposal would have undergone a feasibility assessment before selection,