National Youth Fund in the pipeline 

By: Ketemba Tjipepa

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is expected to launch a National Youth Fund aimed at assisting young people access financing for their businesses.

She said many youth-led businesses continue to face systemic financing hurdles, despite making up the majority of the population.

President made the announcement on Wednesday during the Bank of Namibia’s launch of upgraded banknotes and new coin series.

“Youth development is another national priority that requires urgent financial sector responsiveness. The majority of our population is young, yet youth owned enterprises continue to face systemic financing hurdles, limiting their economic agency and undermining national efforts to harness the demographic dividend. The National Youth Fund, which will soon be launched in the coming months, is intended to address this anomaly,” said Nandi-Ndaitwah.

She urged commercial banks to support the initiative.

In addition, Nandi-Ndaitwah said Cabinet has approved the Namibia Financial Sector Transformation Strategy, a ten-year plan to make the financial system more inclusive and accessible to all Namibians.

This strategy will officially be launched on 28 July.