Times Of Swaziland: GOVERNMENT TO SUBVENT  KICKSTART PROGRAMME

GOVERNMENT TO SUBVENT  KICKSTART PROGRAMME
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 BY TIMOTHY SIMELANE on 07/03/2014 05:23:00


MBABANE – Government will this year subvent the Swaziland Beverages KickStart
Entrepreneurial Development Programme, Prime Minister (PM) Sibusiso Barnabas
Dlamini revealed.
He said banks also had a challenge to follow suit so that, though small the
entrepreneurs may be for now, in future they would be billionaires.
The PM revealed this during the KickStart Award ceremony at the Royal Villas
yesterday.
The revelation follows that made by Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini, who
announced in his budget speech two weeks ago that E6.2 million would be set
aside this financial year for the development of the youth in entrepreneurship.
The minister had said the money would be shared among Junior Achievers,
KickStart, and Enactus – all organisations involved in the funding of young
entrepreneurs. The PM said government had, as one of its priorities, a resolve
to bolster young entrepreneurs and make them effective contributors to the
economic engine.
“Speaking for government, I can simply say how much we appreciate a corporate
social initiative of this nature, and add that we need it to reach as many young
would-be entrepreneurs as possible. It is for that reason that explicit
government budgetary support is being extended to the kickStart Programme in
financial year 2014/15.”
The PM said such support from government was, however, not restricted to
financial assistance. “Where there is a dependency on a government agency, for
example, within the supply chain we cannot have award-winning young
entrepreneurs frustrated by an avoidable supply failure on the public sector
side. Government will continue to have an obligation to ensure that any pledged
support, in supply or otherwise, is sustained,” he said.
The PM said he had observed that two of the common causes of failure in small
and micro scale enterprises were a shortage of initial working capital and the
mixing of personal cash with business finances.
He said he had been made aware that in future allocations KickStart intended to
include in allocations to awardees initial working capital.  He then
congratulated the 10 awardees who all went away with thousands of Emalangeni
each to finance their businesses.
The 10 were identified as Abraham Bulunga, Assia Manyatsi, Elvis Khumalo;
Lindokuhle Madonsela; Lloyd Masiya; Mlungisi Sibandze; Ncamiso Khumalo; Ncamiso
Nkambule; Nhlanhla Mamba; Sihle Shabalala and Tengetile Mabuza.
Directing comments to them, the PM said: “I urge you to make the very best of
the enterprise opportunities that you have brought to the table. Well done! To
the runners-up, I extend mild commiserations, describing them as ‘mild’ only
because the skill and determination that got you into the final stages of the
competition will serve you well as you compete in future years.”
The PM thanked Swaziland Beverages for maintaining the KickStart Programme,
saying it was a good social responsibility tool that has empowered more than 50
young entrepreneurs with business skills training.