By Bahle Gama
Aspiring youth technology entrepreneurs have been presented with an opportunity to be equipped with the skills and resources to establish and grow their businesses.
This has been made possible by a Memorandum of Understanding between the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF) and the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) signed on Thursday.
YERF CEO Mandla Nkambule extended appreciation to the teams from both organisations for putting together the agreement which highlights how they will work together to support youth empowerment by targeting the technology sector.
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Nkambule stated that YERF and RSTP have identified areas of collaboration that will create synergies that will impact youth technology development and innovation in the country.
“We are already working with some of the RSTP graduates who are in the process of developing exciting and innovative projects.
This partnership will help to bridge the gap and enable start-ups to access funding through YERF,” said the CEO.
RSTP CEO Vumile Dlamini highlighted how His Majesty King Mswati III had the youth in mind when he founded RSTP.
He said the youth is expected to drive innovation and technology development in the country with the assistance of resources from the two organisations.
“The partnership binds the two organisations to work together in supporting and managing innovations by the youth.
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As part of the initiative, startups who are part of the RSTP incubation programme will be assisted in getting funding through YERF and training in running successful tech companies,” Dlamini said.
He said the startups will continue to be assisted and mentored by RSTP, so the businesses are able to grow and develop.
As part of the partnership, it is expected that the youth techpreneurs drive the industry evolution introducing disruptive ‘home-grown’ technologies, redefining business models, and fostering a more dynamic and inclusive tech ecosystem in Eswatini.
“We are passionate about youth empowerment, and we are hopeful this partnership will help garner as many local youth techies into playing an instrumental role in growing the Eswatini economy,” said the CEO.