According to Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, the government is still in the process of sourcing financing for the establishment of the Youth Investment Fund.
“I want to say we hope that before the year is out we can have a little bit of money for the fund.
Perhaps if we don’t get the money that we are looking for from the multilateral agencies, then we will look at the possibilities of us using our money to start the fund even as we pursue the multilateral agencies,” GINA quoted Jordan as saying.
The fund is expected to aid in the development of a young entrepreneurial class, the release stated.
“The idea of this fund was to give youths seed money to start up projects – visionary, innovative kinds of project, not something you could just walk off the road and get.
We were looking for visionary youth; innovative youth who want to explore their imagination in all areas, even in the arts and to bring out their entrepreneurial capabilities,” the release quoted Jordan as explaining.
Meanwhile, according to the release, Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment, Aubrey Norton said the fund which forms part of the National Youth Policy, is “intended to help to create this young entrepreneur group that we are talking about, create employment in the form of small business and to develop the entrepreneurial skills required to make a country develop.”
According to the release, Norton added that preparatory work is continuing to ensure youths can take full advantage of the opportunities created when the fund is established.
“I do know that we have done things like the terms of reference and the preparatory works so once it is passed, it can be fast tracked.
We have to put in place the mechanisms to make sure people can be entrepreneurs, mechanisms for them to be trained in financial literacy and small business management, all that’s necessary to create a core of young entrepreneurs,” Norton explained.
