Walvis Bay Urban Constituency regional Councillor Knowledge Ipinge (34) has said the number one problem for most youth and aspiring business people at the coastal town face is access to funding and that ideas are in abundance but there has been a huge lack of capacity and means to turn the ideas into reality.
Ipinge said this is an update on being 150 days in the office since taking over the leadership role of the coastal town beginning of this year. He said one of the important ways in which an individual can be equipped to create employment opportunities is through the empowerment of the mind, thinking and creative abilities.
He said: “A human being is usually conditioned to think in a certain way, depending on the environment they grew up in, the education they have undergone and the exposure in the world. It is also true that through consistent training and workshops, our youth can be trained to think and create. It is every individual’s right to live a life that is far above poverty but this dream has been elusive for most Walvis Bay youth,” stated Ipinge.
Ipinge mentioned that it is of great importance they (leaders) offer the youth a life-changing opportunity to enable and draw out their thinking capacity through workshops of creativity; hence, there is much room of improvement in the thinking capacity of the youth.
“By hosting creativity workshops quarterly, our office will be creating a conducive environment for new ideas and business to emerge. The thinking and creativity workshops are meant to unleash the ability to dream, imagine and innovate, which is needed in our time and future,” elaborated Ipinge on the approach his office will be taking to tackle issues brought to him.
Ipinge further justified that the hosting and execution of the workshops will ultimately result in the creation of businesses and organisations that were never anticipated before. Success can then be guaranteed in the creation of employment; entrepreneurship creates employment in a nation.
Ipinge noted that since his swearing-in, he has realised that delivering results as the regional councillor of the constituency is the hardest part of the job.
He said: “As elected leaders, we have the authority to direct what government does at regional level but we sit on top of a large and complicated bureaucracy – and it’s not immediately evident how to work through it to get things done. The challenge feels intractable”.
He believes the capacity to deliver in the Walvis Bay Urban Constituency office has been hindered by the absence of the discipline of delivery. “For our office to have effective short term and long-term specific targets realised, there is need for a delivery unit that will ensure the strategy and promises made to the citizenry are the main focus and are kept on track.
The residents of the Walvis Bay Urban Constituency have the full right to demand from me as their elected representative to identify and host regular platforms where Ipinge can listen to their problems and provide feedback.
“The unfortunate position is that very few parents and guardians take time to identify, develop and nurture the individual gifting and talents deeply embedded in the youth. With the identity crisis seen amongst the youthful populations of our constituency, a programme of youth mentorship, aimed at assisting in identifying gifts or talents, development and then exposure to the world will go a long way in alleviating poverty,” enlightened Ipinge.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na