keetmanshoop
Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Zephania Kameeta says entrepreneurs can assist the government in the fight against poverty. He made these remarks at PK De Villiers Secondary School at Keetmanshoop, during the school’s entrepreneurship day last Friday.
Kameeta emphasised the importance of entrepreneurship, saying it promotes income empowerment in an economy and provides a new approach of fighting poverty and stimulating economic growth.
He added that entrepreneurs not only create wealth for themselves but create much needed employment opportunities for other people and as a result offer a long lasting solution to poverty eradication.
He urged the learners to refrain from the traditional thinking of finishing school and working for someone, stating they should instead be thinking of how to have their own businesses.
“Please don’t see yourselves as workers in someone else’s company, but as employers who will employ others” he said.
He commended the education ministry for introducing entrepreneurship as a subject to ensure that learners are exposed to entrepreneurial skills at an early stage and also get used to the notion of being job creators and not job seekers.
He further stated that this will go a long way in assisting government to win the war against poverty and the attainment of a vision of prosperity and industrialization.
Kameeta furthermore urged learners to take their education seriously and use their time and energy to make sure they get good grades, which he said will ensure a brighter future for them, and he warned learners that failure to study could result in a gloomy future for them.
“One day when your friend who you were with in the same class is a medical doctor, you will regret that you have nothing, while you had the same opportunity,” he said.
He called on all Namibians to double their efforts and accelerate the development of Namibia, stating that the few years left before Vision 2030 mean that “time is against us” in ensuring that the vision is fully achieved.
The minister took time to visit some of the business stalls of the learners, who sold various items to their fellow learners and the public.