Govt unveils $17mln Covid-19 relief for youth businesses

Harare(New Ziana)-Government on Friday unveiled a ZWL$17 million relief grant to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on youth owned business enterprises.

Addressing the media, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry said the relief fund targets youth enterprises and registered youth associations.

“Many businesses have been affected by the pandemic and the youth sector has also not been spared.

“In this regard, Government through the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation has set up a ZWL$17 million Relief Fund to support youth-led businesses and associations and to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on their operations across the country” she said.

She added: “The fund which is being given as a grant is meant to provide relief support to youth enterprises affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the measures being taken to contain it”.

The fund is also expected to build capacity among youth led businesses engaged in activities complementing the National Covid-19 taskforce relief efforts such as manufacturing and distribution of protective material, sanitizers and soap among others.

Enterprise owned by youths must have been operating for a period of at least six months to a year before the lockdown period and must produce bank statements for the same period in order to benefit.

Youth owned businesses will get up to $5 000 while youth registered associations will get up to $3 000 while those who do not qualify will be referred to other relief programmes like Social Welfare.

Coventry said no application for the fund would be turned away.

“I wish to assure the nation that mechanisms are in place to ensure that the fund will be administered in an open and transparent manner as well as to ensure that all Zimbabwean youths who meet the above set criteria will have an equal chance of benefitting from the programme.

“No application will be turned away. In fact, those that do not qualify under this fund will be referred to other facilities such as the social protection, arts sector support scheme,” said the Minister.

The applicaton process involves various online platforms while those without access are expected to liase with the Ministry’s provincial contact persons for onward submission of applications to the Head office.

New Ziana