Online Reporter
Judith Phiri [email protected]
THE Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Judith Ncube has commended clothing manufacturing company, TICOZ Enterprise for youth empowerment programmes, equipping them with skills, resources and opportunities.
Speaking after touring the company’s production factory on Wednesday, the Minister said more companies should take up the initiative to empower the youth.
“TICOZ Enterprise is one of the businesses that we identified and they got an award during the Women Investment Conference because of the services that they provide. These include training the young people through the vocational approach that they have and this means a lot to the future generation,” she said.
“The youth are the future business people. We need more business people especially women and the services being offered here align to that. Some of the young people here are come from rural areas as far as Nkayi, Tsholotsho, Gokwe and Mberengwa among others.”
She said empowering youth from rural areas speaks to rural industrialisation being spearheaded by the Government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa ensuring no one and no place is left behind.
Minister Ncube said the skills the youth were acquiring were lifetime skills that enable them to effectively handle the demands, challenges and opportunities of everyday life.
“What is needed is for us to talk with those with resources to support these empowerment initiatives so that the youth could be able to start their small businesses. They will be able to grow because of the skills background they have been given here at TICOZ Enterprise,” she added.
“Of interest there is a girl from South Africa who came for the training here to do tailoring, pattern making, cutting and finishing of all the production. She talks confidently to say that she is so happy for the opportunity she got here. As Government we really appreciate the role they are playing.”
TICOZ Enterprise Operations Dircetor, Ms Tafadzwa Zimbudzana said to address unemployment challenges, they training young people at their company.
“We have a very high unemployment rate with young people the majority. We came up with an in initiative of training young people from across the country in their factory. When they finish our training programme for six months and hire them.
“So with us being able to secure more jobs and more tenders, we are able to also have more orders and hire more of these students that just train them and then say we do not have jobs for you,” she said.
She said most the girls they train are from disadvantaged backgrounds, while they have also started to welcome people coming from South Africa.
The Minister was accompanied by a delegation comprising Joint Operations Command (JOC) members, Government officials and stakeholders from various sectors who are on two-day tour of key development and legacy projects in Bulawayo.
The visits form part of Government efforts to gain a clearer understanding of the scope, implementation status and challenges affecting strategic projects across the city, while identifying interventions required to ensure their timely completion.
