KAMPALA – A total of sh17.5b has so far been disbursed to the youth under the Youth Venture Capital Fund (YVCF).
YVCF that started in August last year by the Gender, Labour and Social Development ministry in partnership with Centenary Bank, the project is intended to provide concessional loans to individual youths or groups.
However, speaking at the Uganda Media Centre on Friday, Pius Bigirimana, the Permanent Secretary at the gender ministry said a total of 4,450 projects by youth had been funded.
“90% of the youth that accessed the money were individual borrowers,” Bigirimana stated.
He made the remarks at the time the ministry delivered its report on the Manifesto implementation as per the 2016-2021 National Resistance Movement Manifesto theme of “Taking Uganda to Modernity through job creation and inclusive development”.
Bigirimana said up to sh32bn, was made available for youth aged between 18 to 30 years who were seeking to work independently or as a group.
The money, administered by Centenary Bank inform of loans of up to sh5m for an individual and sh25m for small groups of five, attracts an 11% interest rate annually payable, not exceeding two to four years.
Before accessing the funds, one must have proof of a business that has been in existence for at least three months and have two guarantors.
However, state minister for youth and children affairs Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi expressed concern that amidst the good initiative meant to relieve youth out of poverty, there was a lot of misinformation and negative campaigns by perpetual saboteurs who are up to failing the initiative.
The other challenge the minister cited was the overwhelming demand for support across the country amidst budgetary constraints.
The Mandate of the Social Development Sector is to empower communities to harness their potential through skills development, labour productivity and cultural growth for sustainable and gender responsive development.
Other ongoing youth programmes geared towards supporting the youth include, the Youth Livelihood Programme, National Action Plan for Youth Employment, National Youth policy, Green Jobs and a fair labour market project, among others.
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