STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

 

DR B.S.S.DLAMINI

 

AT THE JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT ANNUAL FUNDRAISING GALA DINNER

 

AT ROYAL SWAZI CONVENTION CENTRE

 

Friday 27 June 2014

 

Honourable Ministers

Chairman of Junior Achievement Board of Directors

Chief Executive Officer of AMADI Group

Economic Adviser at UNDP

Members of Junior Achievement Board of Directors

Executive Director of Junior Achievement Swaziland

Captains of Industry

Junior Achievement Programme Sponsors

Junior Achievement Staff

Members of the Media

Distinguished Guests

 

There is a classic saying that can apply to mankind in whatever context – and that is, always practice what you preach. Which is precisely what the Junior Achievement Programme is doing this evening.

 

With a special responsibility for helping to develop an entrepreneurial culture among our students, the Junior Achievement Programme, as it continues to expand, will always require more finance than is available. So the Junior Achievement Board and Executive have put on their own entrepreneurial hats and held this Dinner this evening to raise more funds.

 

As usual, I am very happy to join such initiatives and reiterate my support for this Junior Achievement Programme, as I do for the other key players in the youth entrepreneurship development agenda, such as Enactus and the Kick Start Programme.

 

And, consistent with another well-worn saying – put your money where your words are – His Majesty’s Government, in the current financial year, has allocated E500,000 to each of Junior Achievement and Enactus, and E2 million to the Kick Start Programme.

 

I think it will be clear to all why Government is allocating funds in this manner. I doubt that anyone in this room needs to be told that the economic growth that we require to meet our development targets will have to come from making more, growing more and providing more in the way of services of value such as tourism. Furthermore, it is widely recognized – indeed, contemporary wisdom - that the large part of that growth has to come from an accelerated development of our small, medium and micro-scale sector. And in so doing there will be the creation of many new jobs. This relies heavily on pro-active entrepreneurship and it is especially important that we draw in the youth of this country since it is in that segment of the population that unemployment is at its highest.

 

Recognising the need for a stronger entrepreneurship culture must include acknowledging that the younger the individual starts, the longer the exposure to practical entrepreneurship, and the greater the ultimate impact.

 

And what is emerging so clearly is that entrepreneurial activity at school age is fun. And perhaps even more fun in adulthood when it is also paying the bills and giving the individual an enviable personal and professional freedom and a sense of fulfillment. I think we can safely guarantee that if you spoke to entrepreneurs who have started an enterprise in middle age – and there are many of them – you will be greeted with a chorus of –“I just wish I had started all this earlier in my life.”

 

The Junior Achievement Programme addresses precisely that. It empowers our young people with entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy skills. And these are, of course, skills that are invaluable, for the young adult starting his or her own business or a seeking an employed position in an established company.

 

Whether you are a parent or a teacher, or simply someone who observes the way the youth absorb and process information, you are aware that the brain is, at that time of life, at its peak in terms of its ability to take on new facts and skills. That is amply evident in the speed at which a youngster picks up computer skills, learns a new language, masters the hitting of a top spin forehand in tennis, or learns a part for a play. For that reason it is of huge value to expose our young people to entrepreneurship during their schooldays.

 

Running a business does not come naturally to the average person whether young or old. Even the idea itself of building up a sustainable livelihood through self-employment does not occur to many adults throughout their lives. In some cultures, on the other hand, the inclination towards entrepreneurship is almost instinctive.

And there is much to learn, and mostly through practice. Setting up a business, doing the market research, producing and selling a commodity or a service, dealing with costing and pricing, or the marketing and stock control, and drawing up basic financial statements – all of these are part and parcel of entrepreneurship. Whilst it might not come naturally to our people, we have seen from our competitions, both domestic and international, that given the opportunity, instruction and mentoring, our young students have become very good at running a business. Our teams have won two Africa Region Junior Achievement Company of the year competitions and some of the student companies have actually supplied the wholesale and retail sectors with their products. Our youngsters have shown zeal, passion and innovation.

 Recognising the immense value of bringing entrepreneurship to children at a young age, Junior Achievement, together with other partners, is taking entrepreneurship a step further - to primary schools, through the Citrus Saturday Programme in which primary schoolchildren learn how to set up and run a business just for a day.

On behalf of His Majesty’s Government I do commend, and thank most warmly, all the organizations that have collectively pooled resources in the support of the Junior Achievement Programme over the past few year. We are most grateful to you for your choosing to invest your corporate social responsibility resources in the development of an appetite and skill for entrepreneurial activity in our youth.

And it is worth noting that the private sector has not only provided financial support for the Junior Achievement Company Programme, but has also opened the doors for other initiatives such as the Job Shadow Programme. This is another important strand of the overall Programme and is especially important for students completing Form Five as it gives them an opportunity to experience what we might call the Three W’s – the World of Work for a Week. That Programme, through exposure to various career options, helps students to make informed career choices. It also helps them to understand what is expected of an employee and the ethics of employment and the workplace. We commend and thank all the companies that have played host to these young people and encourage them to consider hosting more and more such groups in the future.

I take this opportunity to thank Junior Achievement for the progress made in recent years. It would most interesting to learn from time to time of the longer-term impact of the various arms of the Junior Achievement Programme – such as how many continue into adult entrepreneurial activity and, in the employed category, obtaining feedback on the benefit obtained from the Job Shadow Programme.

 

And I conclude by expressing once again the gratitude of His Majesty’s Government for the generosity shown by companies in their financial and other forms of support for the Junior Achievement Programme and for supporting this fund-raising dinner.

 

And thank you for inviting me. Good night.