Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Youth Council (ZYC) has partnered a German-based organisation Afrolynk to offer entrepreneurship training programmes to youths across the country.
About 1 000 youths countrywide are set to benefit from the training programme where 500 youths will be trained online while the remainder will be trained through workshops.
ZYC Head of Business Development and Research Mr Sungano Chisina said they entered into the partnership with Afrolynk in a bid to empower young people.
He said the entrepreneurship training programme will help youths utilise funds allocated to start up companies in the 2020 national budget.
“We have entered into a partnership with Afrolynk and this partnership will see young people taking their part in the entrepreneurship development in the country.
“In essence, we are targeting 100 youths per province.
“We have online training and for those who do not have Internet services mainly in the rural areas, we will be conducting the trainings through workshops,” said Mr Chisina.
“From a ZYC perspective, we see this as an empowering programme bearing in mind that in the national budget we have financing mechanisms for young people who want to start businesses thus the capacity building programme will ensure they utilise the money usefully.”
Mr Chisina said youths countrywide can apply for the training programme through a link on their website while those who want to attend the workshops should obtain application forms from their offices nationwide.
“Applications for the online training have already started and will close on February 15. For those who will be trained through workshops at each province, they should visit their nearest ZYC provincial, district or ward officer to obtain the application forms.
“In the first week of March the programme will start for the next four months and our vision is targeting to have trained over 100 000 youths by 2030 as we believe youths need to take a stand in the country’s economy,” said Mr Chisina.
Afrolynk Ecosystems manager Mr Kumbirai Chipadza said sponsoring the programme was due to the passion and zeal shown by the Zimbabwean youths in embracing Afrolynk programmes.
Mr Chipadza added that since May 2019 they have trained more than 2 500 students in Africa and with the majority coming from Zimbabwe.
“Afrolynk appreciates how young Zimbabweans have welcomed us and embraced our programmes.
“We thank the ZYC for partnering with us and we believe this will give Zimbabwean youths comparative advantage in accessing the global market.
“The training programme benefits include access to the Afrolynk Global Market Place, Afrolynk Mentorship Programme which is conducted by German mentors, funding opportunities through the EEP Fund and an opportunity to travel to Germany for the Afrolynk Conference in September,” said Mr Chipadza.
Afrolynk is found in 10 African countries and rapidly growing through its Factory24 online learning platform which has reinvented the e-learning landscape for young Africans.
It has partnered companies that include IBM, Github and Liquid Telecom in offering digital skills training programmes in relevance to emerging technologies. — @mthabisi_mthire.
Online Reporter