Gapi is organizing a national platform for the implementation of a Program to prepare youth to contribute to sustainable and inclusive development in Mozambique. Through this program, called Innovative-Youth – “Juve-Inova” – Gapi proposes to involve a network of national partners.
“Through our experience of the last 10 years, during which Gapi has dedicated itself to specific programs for young people, we have realized that it is necessary to go beyond the short-term vision and localized projects“, said Gapi’s CEO, António Souto last Thursday, 16th August, in a debate organized by Gapi with the aim of drawing inputs from the partners to improve the program.
To enrich the methodology and operational procedures of this program, 28 organizations from all over the country participated in the debate that focused on the problem of innovation, the skills needed to undertake new business and the constraints to the sustainability of both service providers and new companies. Founders and leaders of local companies and associations, such as the ICC, IdeiaLab, AIESEC and Ideário, have integrated the panel and moderated this debate.
Juve-Inova must be implemented by a network of partners with proven skills to identify, select and provide multi-faceted technical assistance to young people who reveal skills and commitment in setting up and / or expanding small businesses. Likewise, specific financial instruments will be created for each region of the Country.
As explained by Gapi’s CEO, in order to create a new generation of entrepreneurs in the country, it is important that the support initiatives are broader at the provincial and district levels. António Souto said that Gapi will use its network and logistics at the national level to help broaden the scope of its partners to the districts and thereby stimulate the emergence or expansion of youth-led business initiatives.
In preparation for this initiative and expansion of a program already underway, Agro-Jovem, which aims to promote a new generation of entrepreneurs in the agribusiness value chain, Gapi renewed its partnership agreements with sixteen higher education institutions and technician-professional from all over the country, adding a further four and announced the realization of a roadshow that will cover more than two thousand young people from 20 educational institutions covering all the provinces of the country.
The roadshow will consist of debates with young people, local authorities, the academic community and people with business experience, during which issues related to the design, growth and sustainability of a business will be addressed. Within the past two years, financing has been approved for around 100 projects with a total value amounting of 60 million meticais (US$1,000,000).
