KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube with the recipients of the monies from the fund. Picture: Supplied
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube this week announced the beneficiaries of the R90 million Youth Empowerment Fund.
The premier noted that 42% of the approved applicants were women, a fitting end to Women's Month in August.
Dube-Ncube further announced that the new window for the R100m funding will be opened soon.
Against the backdrop of an increasing unemployment rate, the fund was established in 2018 to crank up youth development and empowerment across the province.
The premier said in the first phase, R60m was disbursed to 51 youth-owned business.
"In the current phase, which opened in July last year, 4 016 applications were received for funding and of those, 2 854 applicants were disqualified for failing to meet certain requirements while 1 162 were processed by the KZN Growth Fund," Dube-Ncube said.
Following further evaluation, 352 applications were then shortlisted and 59 applicants were given funding ranging from R2m to R200 000 for their businesses which range from water security to transport, logistics, farming technology, digital economy, automotive and maritime.
The funding is structured in such a way that 90% of the Fund received by each beneficiary is channelled to buy them equipment in order to lower their cost of business, while 10% is for working capital.
Dube-Ncube said it is encouraging that beneficiaries come from across the province. The Fund also approved businesses that are owned and managed by unemployed graduates and youths from professional sectors such as medical, engineering and accounting disciplines.
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