Botswana: The Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture- Ghanzi office, in partnership with African Mining Services and other stakeholders, hosted a three-day Business Youth Expo under the theme ‘Collective Commitment: Fuel for Sustainable Youth Business.’
Giving a keynote address at the ongoing Ghanzi Business Youth Expo, the Assistant Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Honest Buti Billy, encouraged the youth to develop and nurture a growth mindset by exploring the more ‘thought to be’ challenging dimensions of doing business.
The Assistant Minister said that the youths are the ones who are yet to bring solutions to the problems they face, stating that the high national and global youth unemployment statistics talk to young persons both as individuals and members of the global community to fill the unemployment gaps.
Billy also encouraged the youth to venture into collaborative business partnerships to drive and manage the different competitive markets. He also urged them to model tolerable character traits befitting trading spaces.
Furthermore, the Assistant Minister petitioned the youth to use the available funding to close the existent poverty gaps. On that notion, the Assistant Minister called for Youth Development Fund beneficiaries to pay back loans they had been funded with to allow their fellows to benefit.
For his part, the Communications and Community Relations Manager of Mining Services, Archibald Ngakayagae, pledged their commitment to the development of Ghanzi youths, whom he said resilient and persistent despite the adversities they face as a result of being geographically located in a region that has often been considered distant from the epicentre of development.
The Mining company has this year pledged P250,000.00 as a partner and sponsor of this year’s Youth Business Expo. To that tune, Ngakayagae said the occasion was an opportunity for the young constituents to shine, learn and grow.
African Mining Services (AMS) currently employs ten females from the Ghanzi region. Ngakayagae stated that AMS has further opened its doors to graduate trainees from the region, giving them a chance to shine on a bigger stage.