Youth empowerment boosted via the MTC 4LIFE project
By Freeman ya Ngulu.
With the “MTC 4LIFE” project, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) seeks to lower the rate of youth unemployment while enabling Namibians to work for themselves in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
The training modules cover a variety of disciplines such as photography, graphic design, barbering, make-up, nail technology, hairdressing, catering, sewing, baking, and manufacturing.
“The programme not only offers practical training, but also entrepreneurship training to teach the candidates how to run a firm,” said Erasmus Nekundi, MTC’s Public Relations Officer.
Nekundi added that after candidates have finished both training sessions, they receive a start-up kit and N$5,000 to aid in the launch of their company.
For the training, 50 individuals were chosen.
“Being a person living with disability should never be your focus, rather focus on what you can do to empower yourself,” said selected candidate for the sewing module, Elisabeth Angodji.
Angodji expressed her excitement to use the skills she will acquire during her five-day sewing course, at the Academy of Hands and Creativity through the MTC 4LIFE programme, to teach and empower other unemployed youth in her community.
“I am living with a disability but I choose not to focus on it and I would like to tell the youth out there that you should not focus on your disability but rather on your talents and look for opportunities like this to empower yourself,” said Angodji.
Selected candidate for make-up training, Jessica Kankondi, said that at the end of her training she would like to help empower and teach her fellow youth to do make-up, especially the youth that are living with disabilities.
“I applied for this training programme to empower myself and then use these skills to empower others. I also just want to make other people feel beautiful about themselves,” said Kankondi.
Kankondi has difficulty speaking and said that doing make-up allows her work to speak on her behalf so she does not have to talk much herself.
