The government has launched an initiative, with the support of the United Nations (UN), to address economic hurdles faced by young entrepreneurs in the country.
The Prime Minister’s Initiative for Youth Empowerment, termed Sebabatso (a marvel) – seeks to promote and expedite the growth of innovative youth-driven businesses.
It also aims to prepare young people for national and international investment opportunities.
The key objectives of the initiative include establishing an annual national platform for youth entrepreneurs to exhibit their ventures in the presence of top officials, and empowering young innovators, especially those in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics), to propose community-centered solutions.
Collaborating with the UN and its agencies, Sebabatso also helps groom young entrepreneurs with pitching their innovations to attract investment.
The project further seeks broaden the exposure of Basotho youth to global and regional empowerment models such as the Youth Connekt initiative, which aims to inspire African youth to drive socio-economic transformation, enhance employment opportunities, and foster a strong culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.
In addition, Sebabatso aims to promote partnering with potential investors and mentors to transition youth-driven social enterprises to profit-generating entities.
The senior entrepreneurship officer in the ministry of gender, youth, sports, arts, culture and social development, Lintle Rabolinyane explains to theReporter’s Neo Kolane in an interview what Sebabatso is all about and what it intends to achieve.
Prime Minister Sam Matekane launched the Sebabatso Youth Empowerment Initiative at Manthabiseng Convention Centre last week. Please tell us more about this project.
Prime Minister Sam Matekane came up with this initiative after he realised that there is huge youth unemployment in the country.
During the commemoration of International Youth Day on August 12 in Maseru, Mr Matekane was impressed that youth are not just idling, but are doing something to improve their lives and contribute to the economy of the country in various ways.
He went around the stalls manned by young entrepreneurs to see the business initiatives they are undertaking. The prime minister showed interest and made a commitment, emphasising that his interest to help is not for a short time, but long term. He was humbled by the level of creativity and efforts the youth are coming up with.
The event was youth-based; it belonged to innovators and entrepreneurs and involves the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is focusing on the STEAM project.
Mr Matekane said, with the high rate of unemployment in Lesotho and other related issues, youth have suffered mostly hence the government had put in place some measures to respond to some of these challenges. That gave birth to Sebabatso.
Who attend the official launch of the Sebabatso?
Youth from all the country’s 10 districts attended the launch in their numbers. Pitched projects with the most promising potential to attract investment were given awards.
What was in it for the winning pitches?
Ten youths who won the business ideas pitching competition will represent Lesotho at the annual Youth Connekt Africa summit to be held in Kenya later this year.
What kind of consultations were made to ensure that the project receives consensus and buy-in from youths across the country?
The project worked hard to ensure that the pitching competition involved as many innovators and entrepreneurs as possible from across the country.
Five presentations were chosen from across all the districts, except for Maseru, which had only four representatives. This means a list of 49 young entrepreneurs were called to pitch their business ideas during the launch of Sebabatso.
Unfortunately, some districts did not apply and as such, we had to look at other districts in terms of assessment.
Youth unemployment remains one of Lesotho’s major challenges. How is Sebabatso going to help in addressing this problem?
The Sebabatso initiative is going to help address unemployment by affording knowledgeable and skilful youth opportunities to become fully fledged entrepreneurs who set up and maintain sustainable businesses which can in turn be able to engage other young people.
When young people establish stable businesses, such ventures stand a good chance of growing. This means more people will be employed.
Sebabatso seeks to empower youth innovators, especially those in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics). Why these specific areas?
We chose STEAM because it is all about innovation. Problems need to be addressed by solutions. Therefore, if we need to wait for solutions from other people or countries, we remain with people that are skilful but not given a platform to be helped in solving national challenges such as unemployment.
There is a very low female representation in STEAM. How does Sebabatso intend to reverse this tide?
It is true that there is less representation of females under STEAM. This year we are encouraging young females who have attended school or who are still in school to take up STEAM. This way, we believe the representation of females will gradually increase and more will be able to enter and leave a mark in these male-dominated areas of study.
We are also seeking other ways on how to support more females and ensure that they take up STEAM subjects.
It is not easy to find women who we are active in technology and science because of culturally, these were considered a preserve for men. But with time we are witnessing an increase in the number of women going into these areas.
