Form businesses – official tells college graduates

Bulawayo, July 20, 2023 (New Ziana) – Government is keen to organise, and support tertiary education graduates to set up businesses to convert their newly acquired academic knowledge into tangible products and services, a top government official said on Thursday.

Saying this was the thrust of the new Education Model 5.0, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development, Raymore Machingura said this would help curb high unemployment rates among youths, as well as economically empower them.

He was speaking at a graduation ceremony at Bulawayo Polytechnic.

He urged tertiary graduates to organise themselves into commercial units producing different goods and services, first for communities around their colleges, and later expand outwards.

“Through this education 5.0, focus is on developing capabilities that will cause production of goods and services using our higher and tertiary education institutions through converting knowledge into goods and services by giving our God given resources,” Machingura said.

“We are ready to support you students to start your own companies where you shall have majority shareholding while the parent college has minority stake. Time for looking for jobs is behind us. With Education 5.0, we are now producing graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset. The mindset that is ready to form own companies and produce much needed goods and services for the citizenry of this country,” he said.

He said government’s aim was to create an entrepreneurial army of graduates able to produce and provide a wide array of goods and services, and also generally tackle unemployment.

Earlier models of tertiary education mainly focused on acquisition of academic knowledge that was only useful as an employee, not a job creator.

“The programmes are in line with the clarion call by His Excellency President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa for an education system that can produce goods and services,” Machingura said.

“His Excellency believes education must not end in an institution, but its impact must be felt in communities where the institutions are located.”

New Ziana