Machakaire Pushes for Greater Youth Access to Finance and Markets

By Kudzaishe Chimonera

Youth Minister Tino Machakaire has called for urgent action to improve young people’s access to finance warning that many are being left behind despite having viable business ideas.

Speaking at a youth business forum, Machakaire said gaps in funding, skills and market access were preventing young entrepreneurs from contributing fully to the economy.

“Bridging the gap between ideas and capital, skills and markets and potential and productivity is urgent,” he said.

The forum, held under the theme Youth Financial Inclusion: Closing Gaps in Connected Economies brought together government officials, financial institutions and young entrepreneurs.

Machakaire said the meeting aligned with the government’s broader push to integrate young people into the economy through the National Youth Empowerment Strategy, introduced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The strategy aims to move young people “from the margins of the economy into its productive core”, he said.

He said financial inclusion must go beyond simply providing access to banking services and instead focus on enabling young people to build sustainable businesses.

“Our approach must go beyond access to financial services. We must enable young people to actively participate in the economy,” he said.

The minister also highlighted the need to align youth empowerment efforts with the country’s development blueprint, the National Development Strategy 2.

He said stronger collaboration between government and the private sector would be key to achieving these goals.

Zimbabwe, like many countries in the region, faces high youth unemployment with policymakers increasingly focusing on entrepreneurship and financial inclusion as part of the solution.