STATEMENT BY THE RIGHT HON. PRIME MINISTER
DR B.S.S. DLAMINI
AT THE 2014 SWAZILAND BEVERAGES KICK START AWARDS PRESENTATION
AT THE ROYAL VILLAS, EZULWINI
THURSDAY 6 MARCH 201428 FEBRUARY 2013
Honourable Ministers
Honourable Members of both Houses of Parliament
Managing Director of Swaziland Beverages
Chairman of the Competition Judges
Club 29 Members
Ladies and Gentlemen
What the horticulturalists will call a hardy perennial – that is, a plant that lives for many years and is not killed by winter conditions – might well be applied to the Kick Start Entrepreneurial Development Programme. That the Programme has completed a fourth consecutive year is very much to the credit of its sponsor, Swaziland Beverages. I take the opportunity to congratulate the Company on that achievement and, furthermore, thank it for doing so.
I am careful to include the word “thank” for the very simple reason that the Kick Start Project ticks an important box, so to speak. Youth entrepreneurship is, along with a number of other initiatives, right up at the top of the national development agenda, and the more organizations that can help us in this area, the better. Why is it so important? Because the growth of youth entrepreneurship is potentially the biggest contributor to future economic prosperity in the Kingdom. And with faster growth will flow the resources that His Majesty’s Government needs for financing public service delivery.
The improved public service delivery objectives that were a priority in the last Administration continue to have that status in the new Administration which I have the honour to lead. The more young people we can encourage and train to take up lifelong sustainable livelihoods the bigger our national output – a synonym for economic growth - and the greater the public revenue, enabling us to finance all our service delivery programmes.
That is why I am here today. When I see the words “entrepreneurship” and “youth” in an official invitation I simply have to attend. His Majesty has emphasized the importance of drawing more and more of our youth into employment. Employment provides essential income as well as creating a sense of purpose in, and commitment to, a fulfilling activity. And a young person entering a sustainable enterprise presents that individual with up to 40 years of meaningful employment, making a continuing contribution to enhanced national economic activity, and providing increased revenue for Government.
We are therefore very grateful to organizations that exhibit a sense of corporate social responsibility in the way that Swaziland Beverages has done. And the Kick Start Programme does a great deal more than merely hand over some money. It also performs the highly important, though labour-intensive, function of mentoring each year’s group of winners to develop the right skills and achieve the very characteristic that is so often lacking – sustainability.
So, to begin with, we have the Kick Start competition itself in which the sponsors offer an open invitation to the youth of our country to compete with each other in presenting innovative and well thought-out enterprise ideas. And then we have the hands-on mentoring for the winners.
And the mentoring function includes a close monitoring of performance in the months that follow the Awards. It is important that the degree of mutual benefit to be gained from that process is appreciated by both sponsor and awardee. The sponsor needs information about performance as well as the assurance of continuity of operations. Making oneself available and providing the sponsors with the necessary information is not only helpful in this regard but also represents a valuable discipline for the young entrepreneur as he or she seeks to achieve sustainability. For if a business is going to fail it will generally display the tell-tale characteristics in the early months after start-up.
And sustainability appears to be a key achievement among past Award winners. That is the mark of success of the Scheme. Speaking for Government, I can simply say how much we appreciate a corporate social initiative of this nature, and add that we need it to reach as many young would-be entrepreneurs as possible. It is for that reason that explicit Government budgetary support is being extended to the Kick Start Programme in financial year 2014/15 to supplement what is being provided by Swaziland Beverages.
And support from Government is not restricted to financial assistance. Where there is a dependence on a Government agency, for example, within the supply chain we cannot have award-winning young entrepreneurs frustrated by an avoidable supply failure on the public sector side. Government will continue to have an obligation to ensure that any pledged support, in supply or otherwise, is sustained.
Two of the common causes of failure at small and micro-scale enterprise level are a shortage of initial working capital and the mixing of personal cash with business finances. I understand that the Kick Start Project intends to include the initial working capital in future allocations. That, I believe, is a valuable measure and should be based on a projected cash flow forecast. The discipline of achieving a clear segregation of business and personal finance is incorporated under financial management processes within the mentoring process.
My warmest congratulations go to this year’s winners of awards. I urge you to make the very best of the enterprise opportunities that you have brought to the table. Well done! To the runners-up, I extend mild commiserations, describing them as “mild” only because the skill and determination that got you into the final stages of the competition will serve you well as you compete in future years. You should not be deterred. I understand that the calibre of the applications has been impressive this year, and in the applicants themselves there has been demonstrated a good understanding of business planning and budgeting, as well as strong presentation skills. Well done, all of you!
For Swaziland Beverages, this Programme represents one of its key corporate social initiatives.
I believe the Company can derive a great deal of satisfaction from the knowledge that it is coordinating and funding one of the most prominent entrepreneurship development projects undertaken by a private sector company. Since its inception four years ago, the Programme has empowered more than 50 young entrepreneurs with business skills training.
One strategy that assists small and micro-scale enterprises across the board is the linking-up of small with big business. That is big business helping small business by buying its goods and services, thus adopting the United States Government’s motto of aid through trade. Swaziland Beverages is, commendably, one such exponent of the link-up and, wherever possible, includes the entrepreneurs in its own supply chain. I take this opportunity to encourage others to follow suit as much as possible and make the commitment to the Buy Swazi Campaign.
In turn, of course, our small and micro-scale entrepreneurs must be mindful of the need to satisfy the big customers by meeting the requisite standards and respecting contractual commitment. It is through feeling committed to a 100% meeting of arms-length obligations that high product and service standards are achieved in a sustainable way.
We are immensely grateful to Swaziland Beverages for maintaining the Kick Start Programme and providing such a large human resource allocation to the Programme from its staffing. Our gratitude also goes to the judges for the difficult and detailed task of assessing the entries.
And finally, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government I do most warmly congratulate the winners and encourage them to convert their vision and specific plans into hard action, and sustained excellence in the future output from their enterprises.
Thank you.