Mbabane – The Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund (YERF) under the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs approved loans amounting to over E3.8 million.
This is contained in the ministry’s annual performance report for the period ended December 2024 which commenced in April last year.
The report states that a total of ninety (90) loans with a total value of E3,882,552 were approved during this period under review. “A total of 183 applications with a total value of E6,447,938 were assessed. Out of these, 90 applications were approved, while 88 applications were deferred and five withdrew their applications due to personal reasons, including further education and relocation to South Africa,” it states.
The total loan repayment is at 99 percentage (%) of the E690,000 quarterly set strategy target. This loan repayment is inclusive of both the payments received as per the current loan agreements and debt collection exercise. The total loan repayment during this period amounted E679,960 to compared to E566,620 in the previous quarter excluding those blacklisted, closed bank accounts and those with lawyers for litigation. This is a 20 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
Two (2) clients plus another two (2) clients from old debts settled their loans in this reporting period versus three (3) and two (2) for new and old debts respectively in previous quarter. The Department collaborates with the Debt Recovery Team on the debt collection efforts where both old (pre-2019) and new (post-2019) clients are being reminded to repay the loans. In this reporting period, a sum of E19,789 was collected from old debts (pre-2019) compared to E48,590 from previous quarter. Collections for the 3rd quarter FY2024/25 amounted to E679,960 compared to E566,620 the previous quarter.
“The Fund observed an increase in the number of clients that are servicing their loans consistently monthly has increased compared to previous years, but this is still low given that there are currently 425 clients.”
The Intermediary has been able to disburse for 49 clients, recommended 29 applications for approval and revised two previously declined applicant. There were no applications that were withdrawn by applicants in the reporting period. There are no applications that were withdrawn by applicants in the reporting period. Strategy Implementation Funding the Department has facilitated funding of 29 businesses worth E1,093,358.
The amount repaid in the period under review is E679,960 against an expected amount of E1,315,097. This represents a collection rate of 52 per cent, which is still below the desired minimum target rate of 70 per cent per quarter. Business support The YERF clients receive mentoring and coaching services from the Fund. 191 clients were visited in the period reported on and thirteen (13) were linked to markets for their products. Thirty-three (33) beneficiaries were trained by the Fund in collaboration with CFI to capacitate the clients or beneficiaries on enhancing their financial management skills. This is part of the capacity building program for the beneficiaries to strengthen their business management skills.
The Intermediary also focused on the assessment of eight (8) loan applications for bean production valued at E287,253 which shall all be sold by the beneficiaries to National Maize Corporation (NMC), where offtake agreements have been signed between the beneficiary and NMC in place.
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