By Elijah Chihota

The youth and women have received a shot in the arm after the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube allocated them ZW$275 million in his 2020 National Budget for empowerment programmes.

Minister Ncube pointed out the importance of the youth demography to economic development.

“The youth are making an important contribution to economies as productive workers, entrepreneurs, consumers, citizens, members of society and agents of change. Taking advantage of this demographic dividend can also speed up the pace for inclusive economic development,” said the Minister.

Prof Ncube went on to allocate $275 million to institutions which directly deal with women and the youths for these two important groups to access the money for various developmental projects.

“Women Development Fund ($20 million), Community Development Fund ($15 million), Zimbabwe Women Microfinance Bank ($100 million), SMEDCO ($90 million) and Empowerbank ($50 million),” Minister Ncube announced.

Previously youths and women were at the receiving end with no funding in sight for their projects. These two groups are at the epicentre of community development, therefore, the funds will go a long way in financing community income generating projects, thus improving the standard of living.

With the closure of companies, the funding will see the youths and women creating their own employment and taking their peers on board. In the past, youths and women had been failing to access loans from banks with arguments being that their projects were not bankable, but the coming in of the Empowerbank and Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank has solved that coupled with this capital injection.