BUJUMBURA December 6th (ABP) – Memberships in different groupings (amafaranga y’imbuga) is a major challenge that blocks young people in their entrepreneurial activities, according to an entrepreneurial expert.
Mr. Tharcisse Ndayizeye was speaking on Tuesday December 4, 2018 during a workshop organized by the NGO Word and Action for awakening consciousness and the Change of Mentalities (PARCEM) within the framework of the implementation of its project “Youth engaged in peace building in Burundi”. In his view, those memberships exclude many young people who are starting commercial activities or other forms of income-generating activities.
Mr. Ndayizeye says that those memberships vary depending on the craft and the location of that craft. He says, for example, that in the interior of the country, a new motorbike-taxi rider has to pay 250,000 BIF to be admitted to the grouping.
According to him, those fees should be revised downwards and regulated to the fact that they become profitable for both the donator and the grouping that receives those fees. Mr. Ndayizeye believes once again that the media must play a big role in order to find solutions to that problem that is hampering the ambitions of young people.Money collected is not equally used in the same way and transparently. He indicates that young people desiring to be entrepreneurs are completely blocked by those fees. That expert points out that those fees are not at all recognized by the law in force in Burundi. He estimates that those memberships may undermine the initiatives of the Government of Burundi that has already implemented the national employment policy and which always urges young people to create their jobs through entrepreneurship.
