The lack of enough equipment and lack of training among young people working for the Otjinene Youth enterprise, a close corporation run by young people in that constituency, are hindering production at that facility.

The Otjinene Youth Enterprise is one of 28 rural youth enterprises that received N.dollars 250 000 in funding from the Development Bank of Namibia through the Ministry of Sports, Youth and National Service recently.

In an interview with this news agency, Kapukire Upendura who spoke on behalf of the enterprise said they have been struggling with unskilled youth that are currently working at the enterprise and asked help to get them trained in leather production.

‘We are a group of 10 members comprising two males and eight females. In the beginning when we started in 2019 we had equal representation, but the problem with young people is they want fast money and if they do not benefit immediately they quit, that’s why many of our male counterparts decided to leave,’ she alluded.

‘The business is
doing well, it is just that we are struggling with proper equipment. We really need equipment, we had a machine that broke and when we took it for repair it cost us a lot,’ she said.

The enterprise is currently producing leather shoes (veldskoen and sandals) and bridles, and repairs saddles as they currently do not have their own patterns to produce their own saddles.

‘We are paying for someone to do patterns for us, because there are no other ways. Some of us just started without any training and that is a struggle on its own,’ she said.

Jefta Mbuende, a Senior Youth Officer from the Ministry of Sports, Youth and National Service responsible for Otjinene said they have approached local training institutions dealing with leather works to make sure these young people are trained.

‘They started well and they are doing their best, only that they need the technical know-how. As the ministry we are currently talking to Gobabis COSDEC and they have given us a quote of around N.dollars 40 000 to for the 10 young
people to be trained for six months,’ he said.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency