Active for Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (AYISE), a non-governmental organisation in Bangwe has told the youths in Blantyre to be entrepreneurs and not to rely on others for employment.
AYISE-Bangwe Youth Centre youth coordinator Monica Makeya Dzonzi made the remarks on Wednesday at the end of a symposium for the youth which took place in the city.
Dzonzi said the symposium was organised in order to train young people in entrepreneurship and to make sure they acquire skills on how to establish their own businesses.
She said the organisation has AYISE Resource Centre where young people are trained in different skills such as gender, life skills, entrepreneurship and youth empowerment.
“We also have the ICT training where we are trying to bridge digital divide amongst young people to make sure they are enhanced in ICT and they are able to contribute towards the development of the country,” said Dzonzi
She also urged the participants to utilise in a positive manner whatever they have learned during the symposium.
On his part, Grivin Kili, a trainer at BIC Malawi Limited who was the facilitator of the symposium urged the trainees to turn their skills into value so as to earn a living.
“About 70 percent of the population in Malawi are young people. Youths should not wait for the companies to employ them. Look at the economy world over, companies are closing down. The only solution that is available right now is to start their own business and actually employ others,” he said.
Kili also advised those who participated in the symposium to only focus on doing positive things that will benefit their time.
However the training was marred by low turn up of girls as there was only five girls out of 52 participants.
One of the participants, Faith Maunda, thanked AYISE for the training which she said will contribute to development of the country.
The symposium was organised in partnership with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and Action for Adolescents and Youth.
