10,000 businesses launched under KJP

SAPM says 170,000 youth trained under ‘Hunarmand Pakistan’ initiative

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar said that there had been a marked upsurge in economic activity across the country as 10,000 new businesses were launched under Kamyab Jawan Programme (KJP).

Addressing the KJP's certificate and loan distribution ceremony at the National Skill University (NSU) in the federal capital on Tuesday, he said an amount of Rs8 billion had been disbursed among 10,000 young people under the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES) of the programme.

He added that 170,000 youth were being imparted trainings in traditional and high-tech trades under the 'Hunarmand Pakistan' (Skill for All) programme which was another component of the programme.

The SAPM noted that around 37,000 young people had completed their six-month courses in traditional and high-tech trades under its first phase while training of another batch of 55,000 youth is under way.

He maintained that the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) would soon enroll the rest of the targeted youth for various trainings under the programme.

Dar further stated that the youth, trained under 'Ustad-Shagird' model, were being provided ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ certification, which would eventually help them get jobs in local and overseas markets. Mentioning another programme, he said that 20,000 students were being empowered under its apprenticeship initiative.

With regard to YES, he mentioned that banks associated with KJP were making brisk preparations to expedite the process for provision of soft loans to the youth.

He said clean lending was being offered to the youth under the first tier of YES. Under tier-1, loan limit was from Rs100,000 to Rs1 million for which markup rate was only 3 per cent, he added.

The SAPM said that the government is planning to add another tier of Rs100,000 to Rs500,000 by June end as most of the applications were received for this type of loan under YES. The markup rate for such type of loans would be only two per cent, he added.

For this tier to be successful, he said micro-financing institutions would be engaged to reach out to the youth in less developed areas such as Balochistan, tribal areas and others. He urged NSU students to apply for loan under the YES, vowing to make a dedicated dashboard for them.

He further said an application was being developed in collaboration with the National Information Technology Board to ensure two-way communication between youth and the teams of KJP and the associated banks.

Dar said a virtual job portal had also been developed to facilitate the youth in exploring employment opportunities both domestically and internationally.

It would enable both the applicants and employers to interact with each other, he maintained, adding that the portal was being run by the NACTTC on a trial basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2021.