National Youth Council Chief Executive Officer, Dingiswayo Jere has challenged youth in the country to embrace entrepreneurship over white color jobs in the wake of high unemployment.
He made the call in Mzuzu when he presented certificates of attendance to youth representatives from various youth groups who attended a four day financial literacy training the Council organized at Mzuzu Entrepreneurs Hub on Thursday.
He said it’s high time youth forget about unemployment situation changing for the better because even if government employed all the unemployed youths, there would be no work for them to do in the offices.
“Let me be honest, there are no enough office jobs to satisfy the current unemployment gap because the demand is just too high.
“As youth, you cannot wait on government to employ you because there’s no work. Government can employ you all today but you will just be sitting in offices doing nothing.
“You see those interns government is employing, most of them are practically doing nothing; they just sit in offices because there is no work for them to do in these offices,” Jere said.
The CEO said that unless the youth themselves begin to use their knowledge and abilities to create opportunities for themselves and others, unemployment will continue to grow.
“Real money is out there, you just need to pursue it by choosing to be an entrepreneur. Employ yourselves today, and then in two three years’ time, you’ll be an employer,” Jere said.
He implored the youth to take a step of investing in their abilities now because later it may be difficult for them.
“Amidst you, I see very young people with a lot of years ahead of them; don’t just waste in your parents’ homes, decide now that you want to make the change.
“You see, now is the best time to try out some investment, because years will come when you will have huge responsibilities and at that time you may have to choose between making an investment and caring for a family,” the CEO said.
A Youth from Appause Organization in the City, Vanessa Nyirenda appreciated the Youth Council for organizing the training which she said has brought a lot of insights on financial management.
She asked the Council to consider increasing number of participants for similar trainings for more youth in the region to benefit.
The training took onboard 20 youth from different youth organizations within the City participate.- By Rose Mahorya