By Nasratu Kargbo
The Ministry of Youth Affairs together with Restless Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a scheme that seeks to aid youth led small scale businesses that have closed or scaled-down due to COVID 19 pandemic. Targeted beneficiaries are aged 15 to 35 with more focus on women and disabled persons.
Giving a synopsis of the project, Restless Development’s Senior Programmes and Partnerships Manager, Alfred T.M Navo said the project is aimed at supporting businesses that are affected by COVID, with more focus on women and persons with disabilities. He explained that they will target 70% of female-owned businesses for the grant.
Navo revealed that 1.4 billion Leoneans have been budgeted for the project that will be concentrated in the Western Area and which is to run for a period of four months, from June to October 2021.
Navo said the project will start with a selection phase during which youths will pitch their ideas, to be followed by the screening of applications by a committee.
He explained that the next phase will involve training in the areas of financial literacy, leadership, and a lot more. He said the training will last for four weeks and will be done in shifts.
He stated that startup grants are to be made available to those participants who would have completed the training and developed a business plan approved by project partners. According to Navo, the project will also involve mentoring, advising, and monitoring the beneficiaries and their businesses in order to attain success. They will be capacitated so as to judiciously use the fund that will be given to them”, he pointed out.
He also stated their approach was to make sure they encourage and build accountability and ownership amongst beneficiaries to ensure transparency, asserting also that the selection process will be devoid of any political sentiment.
Director of the NGO Affairs in the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MOPED), Eric Massalay said that all partners have a responsibility to play in order to make the project successful and called on Restless Development to provide the necessary capacity needed by the beneficiaries.
He said they should not leave the beneficiaries to do as they please with the money, but that they are monitored and directed for them to achieve the intended goals. The Director asked that the project be rolled out to other vulnerable districts.
Massalay advised the Ministry to own the project as other institutions are only complimenting the efforts of the establishment.
Interim Hub Director for Restless Development, Leslie Garuru said that the intervention came at the right time, as the world is grappling with COVID-19 and that could be a way to help youth-led businesses recover from the effects of the pandemic.
He advised the prospective beneficiaries to make use of the opportunity to resuscitate and build their businesses and to also contribute meaningfully to the development of the country.
The Youth Specialist UNDP Richard Musinguzi said the economy has been severely affected by the pandemic and assured of their support for Youth-led businesses.
The Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura said when they design projects they do so with the aim of building a generation of young people that will protect the future generation.
He said the launch was just a pilot as they plan to cater for over five hundred businesses.
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