Government has once again urged vocational and technical graduates to start their own businesses as opposed to seeking employment.
Institutions of higher learning which include universities and vocational training centres are churning out thousands of graduates every year and these cannot all be absorbed by the formal sector.
It is because of this realisation that Government directed institutions of higher learning to produce graduates with entrepreneurial skills that enable them to start their own businesses.
Addressing more than 200 graduates from five vocational training centres in Bulawayo and Matabeleland North on Tuesday, Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Deputy Minister Kudakwashe Mupamhanga said vocational training should go beyond equipping young people with qualifications and prepare them to establish their own businesses.
He said graduates in agriculture, motor mechanics, welding, garment making, catering and carpentry among other trades, should identify business opportunities and approach financial institutions with their business proposals.
We want at this juncture to urge other vocational training centres to borrow a leaf from Bulawayo Projects Centre (BPC) which has, during the past 33 years, churned out more than 20 000 graduates and most of them are now running their own businesses.
The Bulawayo Projects Centre which was established by local churches in 1993 in response to a humanitarian crisis caused by massive job losses triggered by the implementation of the 1991
Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), is among the leading vocational training centres in Bulawayo.
It has five vocational skills training hubs in Cowdray Park, Nketa, Njube, Thorngrove and Donnington suburbs.
BPC does not only offer skills training but also entrepreneurial mentorship to enable its graduates to establish their own businesses soon after graduating.
The centre, through its business incubation programme, also assists the graduates to translate their skills into sustainable livelihoods.
Under this programme, graduates are offered spaces to operate from for a given period.
This is a model that most vocational training centres can adopt so that their graduates are turned into job creators as opposed to job-seekers.
The provision of spaces to operate from is key to the success of young entrepreneurs hence the need for vocational training centres to provide such spaces.
Government could assist with resources to establish the business incubation working spaces at the vocational training centres which, as already stated, will enable young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.
After a given period, the young entrepreneurs should be able to find their own spaces to operate from.
