In an effort to empower young women’s entrepreneurs for them to venture into income-generating businesses aimed at transforming their lives and communities, SOS Children’s Village on Saturday presented a K25 million entrepreneurial startup equipment to 40 graduates.
Speaking during the graduation of 79 young women under the Young Women Technical Skills Empowerment project held at Lilongwe SOS Children’s Village, guest of honour Reverend Brenda Chombo highlighted women’s economic empowerment as one of the pillars of sustainable development in the country.
She said: “One of the cornerstones of sustainable development is empowering young women both socially and economically. Empowered women are likely to become independent and contribute productively to our society.
“It is for this reason that today SOS Children’s Village has given a startup equipment worth K25 million to 40 graduates to enable them embark on small scale enterprises.”
According to Chombo, lack of skills and economic opportunities among young women remain one of the major contributing factors to worsening inequalities and poverty in Malawi.
She said: “When young women lack skills and economic opportunities they become vulnerable to all sorts of attacks such as sexual violence in our society. This does not only decrease their voices and participation in decision-making processes, but also perpetuate poverty and gender disparity.
Therefore, we hope the skills and entrepreneurship startup will go a long way to transform their lives.”
Chombo, however, urged the graduates to work hard in their various businesses for them to excel and improve their economic lives.
At least 79 young women graduated in various programmes through the SOS Children’s Village Vocational Training Center under the Heimstaden and SOS Children’s Village Norway funded transformative project (the Young Women Technical Skills Empowerment) which was implemented in partnership with the Youth Africa International.
The project seeks to build young women’s self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods by equipping them with skills in Food production, Tailoring and Fashion Design, Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy, Baking and Confectionery, among other disciplines.
Meanwhile, SOS Children’s Village has empowered over 300 vulnerable young women since 2022.
