Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali declared on Saturday that over the next five years the government hopes to create 4,500 small companies for young people, and about 80,000 jobs, including self-employment. He was speaking in Maputo at the official launch of the Youth Business Programme (Proempresa-Jovem) which is being set up to finance business initiatives of young people. Through the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), in partnership with public companies and other institutions, the government intends to meet the need for youth employment and to set up small companies that can generate income for young people.“The government wants to take this initiative to all the municipalities and regions of the county”, said Ali. “But since we have to start somewhere, it was decided that the cooperation between the Maputo Municipality and GAPI would be a good starting point”. (GAPI is a financial institution with a long record of financing small companies).The launch of this programme, said Ali, marks the start of another action undertaken by the government in order to reduce poverty. The special characteristic of this initiative, he added, is that it trusts in the capacity of young people to create wealth.A further strategic objective of the programme is to create institutional capacities in the municipalities. Municipalities and local government will be supported in order to respond better to the challenges of local economic development.“The resources to be applied under the programme will be channelled via a specialised body accountable to the Bank of Mozambique and to the tax authorities”, said Ali.Although the programme is the responsibility of the Maputo municipality in technical partnership with GAPI, it will also involve youth organisations and their members through a network of local platforms.Ali called on the programme’s beneficiaries to respond with hard work, discipline and a high sense of organisation to the opportunities to develop small scale businesses. “It is with hard work and the spirit of sacrifice that we shall have a competitive economy and a greater capacity to respond to external shocks such as the increase in the prices of oil and foodstuffs on the international market”, he said. The chairperson of IGEPE, Hipolito Hamela, said that the programme has about 500,000 US dollars available to fund business initiatives of young people.
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