TEENAGE mothers, young men who have done ’jail time’ , disabled young people and any other people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are marginalised, and find it hard to get a loan from a ’normal’ bank, will now have access to loans to start their own businesses.
While some might say these persons are receiving a ’bligh’ from the Government, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Gary Hunt, calls the decisions to implement a programme where at-risk young adults are given the means to become an entrepreneur a part of ’the Government’s mandate to ensure no one is left behind’ on the country’s route to economic and social prosperity.
The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, along with the National Entrepreneurship Development Company Ltd, (NEDCO) and the Ministry of Labour, has moved to develop a project called Youth Rise.
Under this programme, young people from impoverished and crime-ridden areas, who otherwise would not have the funds or guidance to try their hands at business, are outfitted with a mentor, some business training and eventually a soft loan, which could be as much as $20,000, to take their first steps to developing a small business, through which they can find honest work and a way to express their ’God-given talents’, said Hunt.
At a press conference where Youth Rise was introduced at his Ministry in Port of Spain yesterday, Hunt said the Government is hoping this and other initiatives will contribute to curbing the crime in highly marginalised communities and foster economic growth in poorer families.
While there is no assurance that such a programme will ensure that young men ’put down the gun’ and adhere to the principle of ’badness (being) out of style’, Hunt said he was ’very enthusiastic’ about the project and the effects it could have.
The programme has already been jump started in the Maloney area and the ministry hopes that over the next 12 to 24 months, it can rally up a team of mentors and use their finances to spread the programme to many other ’high-risk’ communities in Trinidad and Tobago.
