Rustenburg - The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) in the North West is ready to support young people to venture into business, the chamber said on Wednesday.
"We are ready to offer support to young people in business to scale up and guide those who have an appetite to venture into business. We understand that many were in the past discouraged by a system of patronage and corruption, where only those who were politically connected received all the support they needed," said spokesman Tshepang Ramosepele.
"We, therefore, call on young people to become entrepreneurs and not tenderpreneurs. Our experience has shown that the latter is not sustainable and does not have growth prospects."
He said there was not much for the youth to celebrate as the country celebrates youth month.
"The North West province, much like other provinces, faces a huge challenge of unemployment amongst young people. It is estimated that up to 35 percent of young people in the province are unemployed. We believe that the youth must be afforded the necessary support to become job creators."
He said job creation could achieved by making it appealing for young people to venture into business by creating a strong development and support system and take keen interest in the growth of start-ups and not just throw money at them, stimulate rural economies where people live by targeting certain sectors that can scale up fast and make an impact on unemployment.
"In this way, people don’t need to move to urban areas in search of jobs and burden the public services in those areas," he said.
"We believe that these kinds of interventions can help our country to get out of this socio-economic quagmire and propel us forward. It will also take strong leadership that is focused on transforming and growing the economy."