FORMER Tourism and Hospitality deputy minister Anastancia Ndlovu, says students must start income generating projects to support President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 2030 vision.
Speaking during a recent Zimbabwe Congress of Students Union (Zicosu) business summit, Ndlovu, who is also the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) vice president, said there was a need to empower students.
“Students must venture into entrepreneurship whilst also undertaking studies in line with president Mnangagwa’s vision that envisages tertiary institutions to be innovation hubs for the country.
“You must go beyond the odds of constrained economic space due to illegal sanctions and Covid-19 pandemic which are eventually affecting the overall national development trajectory.
“Youths and women must take advantage of institutions such as the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank, Empower Bank, which are instrumental in supporting the youth.
“The AAG is ready to assist youths, they are ready to support their business and ideas in line with its mandate of creating business opportunities for Zimbabweans,” she said.
She further said there were numerous empowerment opportunities for the youth under Vision 2030 and the country’s economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
She said the opportunities were vast, ranging from mining to agriculture, information communication technology and retail business, among others.
The former deputy minister also urged students to use social media responsibly in a manner that adds value to their studies and business under the new normal, which has shifted business to virtual platforms because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This comes after AAG also recently threatened to take over disused mines and underutilised farms and redistribute them to the youth.
Following a chaotic and violent land reform programme spearheaded by the late former president Robert Mugabe at the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe was left with vast tracts of underutilised fertile and mineral-rich land.
Most of the resettled new indigenous farmers stripped these farms and mines of equipment and left them desolate.