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Namibia: Erongo Youth Expo a Gas
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New Era (Windhoek)
29 July 2008
Posted to the web 29 July 2008
Charles Tjatindi
Swakopmund
The just ended Erongo Youth Exposition has been described by organisers as a resounding success. The second installment of the regional youth showpiece was hosted here last week Thursday, closing on Saturday.
The youth expo was initially scheduled for last month, but had to be postponed to make way for another youth activity. The expo aims to create a platform for the youth to showcase their products and services, in a bid to promote and attract more people to their respective businesses. The event also aims to serve as a networking opportunity for especially young entrepreneurs
The Erongo Regional Youth Forum Chairperson Ernst Whether, who served on the expo organizing committee, told New Era that the event went according to plan with no major hiccups encountered. The expo, which was officially opened by President Hifikepunye Pohamba through a speech delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Rev.
Willem Konjore, attracted 250 participants overall. From this figure, 126 were performing artists, while 60 were exhibitors. A group of 20 youth hopefuls representing various towns within the Erongo Region entered for the conventional Miss Erongo Youth Expo title.
Service providers and corporate entities were present at the event to provide information to especially young entrepreneurs.
The Walvis Bay-based Kumamosha Film Production company scooped the overall award, alongside a cash prize of N$10 000.
The exposition also seeks to expose business ideas, products and services of young and upcoming entrepreneurs who are motivated by profit but also who remain vigilant of risks associated with starting a business. The organisers are hoping that the youth expo will act as a catalyst to stimulate the growth of small and medium enterprises (SME). It will at the same time ensure that when the SME sector takes off in Namibia, the youth will be at the helm of such a boom.
The youth expo is an initiative of the Erongo Youth Forum and the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, and is mainly sponsored by Rössing Uranium. The hosting committee held a fundraising dinner to kick off efforts aimed at securing funds that would allow the smooth operation of the expo, earlier this year.
The Erongo Youth Expo is planned to become an annual event, following its successful maiden launch last year. A few changes will be affected for next year's event. Such changes would touch the categories available for participation at the regional event.
"We had an overwhelming number of people that entered the performing arts category. While we want to optimize the potential of our upcoming young artists, we want to encourage them to enter the manufacturing and exhibitions categories more," Whether said.
Whether noted that the organizing committee would no longer award cash prizes to winners, but replace such with vouchers relating to the category or field of service of the winners.
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"We found that such cash prizes are vulnerable to abuse, as there is no accounting measure in place for that. When we give out vouchers, we will know that an asset to the business will be bought," he noted.
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