BY SIBUSISEKILE NDLANGAMANDLA
MANZINI– Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo has called for young people to move beyond being beneficiaries of development and become active drivers of Eswatini’s economic growth through entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation.
Speaking during the AeTrade Group Integrated Ecosystem Dialogue held at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre , Khumalo said Government and its partners must strengthen pathways that connect young people to the opportunities already available in the economy.
Young people should be viewed as partners in development, noting that they have the potential to become entrepreneurs, creators, innovators and employers if provided with practical pathways to economic participation.
“The young people of Eswatini are not merely beneficiaries of development. They are partners in development and must increasingly become drivers of our economic transformation,” he said. He explained that a young person with an idea should be able to access skills, develop an enterprise, obtain appropriate financing, produce goods or services and ultimately connect with markets.
“Skills must lead to enterprise. Enterprise must have access to finance. Finance must lead to production. Production must lead to markets and successful businesses must ultimately create jobs and opportunities for others,” said Khumalo.
The Minister stressed that Eswatini must shift its focus from simply asking whether opportunities exist to ensuring that emaSwati are effectively connected to them. “As we enter the next chapter of our national development journey, we must move from asking whether opportunities exist to asking how effectively we are connecting emaSwati to those opportunities,” he said.
The Government recognises that registering a business alone is not enough, particularly for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). He said businesses need access to a combination of skills, finance, infrastructure, technology, standards, markets and business support to move from survival to sustainable growth.
He also called for stronger collaboration between Government, the private sector, financial institutions, development partners, academia and digital platforms to create an integrated ecosystem that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to access support.
Digital platforms such as the AeTrade ecosystem can help connect Eswatini businesses to customers, suppliers, investors and markets beyond the Kingdom. He said the success of such initiatives should ultimately be measured through tangible results, including the number of businesses on boarded, finance mobilised, enterprises accessing new buyers and jobs created.
As Eswatini marks 40 years of His Majesty King Mswati III’s reign, Khumalo said the country must use the milestone to reflect on the achievements of the past while preparing for a more ambitious and inclusive economic future. He said the next 40 years require greater innovation and deliberate efforts to connect people, particularly young people, to economic opportunities.
“If we succeed in creating these pathways, we will not only be addressing unemployment; we will be building a generation of productive citizens capable of contributing meaningfully to the economic future of the Kingdom,” Khumalo said.
(Courtesy Pic)
