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Innocent Katsande
In  global economies today youth business incubators are largely responsible for accelerating growth in emerging companies usually pioneered by young people through providing hands-on training during the highly vulnerable start-up phase. Assistance typically takes the form of a package of business and technical support services that includes mentoring on business strategy, marketing, financial management, legal and product development.

These services are designed to help young entrepreneurs from concept building to project establishment. After establishment, successful young businesspeople are afforded access to a network of outside business resources and start-up capital.

When successfully implemented, Youth Business Incubators provide an environment conducive for the success of innovative entrepreneurial start-ups spearheaded by young people. Effective incubators, according to economic experts, best come in formats such as access to industrial sites, provision of entrepreneurship training, provision of business advisory services and guaranteed access to capital.

Providing young people with access to an industrial site locates young entrepreneurs in one facility, creating opportunities to lower costs associated with supporting a new business. Incubators provide office space to a number of complementary businesses. Incubators offer flexible leases, shared use of conference rooms, reception and other common areas.  Incubators provide emerging business with core production equipment and joint communication infrastructure.

Through providing access to business office infrastructure, incubators give the new companies the much needed visibility to help promote the products and efforts of young people.

Non-specific incubators have the capacity to nature a variety of businesses, the main goal being to promote continuous industrial growth through general business development. While these incubators include knowledge intensive firms, they also include low technology costs in services and light manufacturing. The main focus of support is access to technical, managerial, marketing and financial resources.

High technological and specialised incubators provide services that are focused on the needs of a particular industry to avail effective synergy. These are incubators whose primary goal is to promote the development of technology based start-ups.
These are mainly located at universities and technology parks.

They are characterised by institutional links to knowledge source including universities, technology transfers agencies, research centres, national laboratories and skilled research and development personnel. Virtual incubators, web based video conference, distance education and counselling stimulate specific economic objectives such as job creation and industrial restructuring and help to create new firms and nurture existing firms that create jobs.

The private sector incubators are used to make a profit through providing new business development services. Their emphasis is on high technology business with fast growing potential.

Governments strategic partnerships with the private sector, civic organisations and non-governmental organisations is critical to the establishment of the business incubators across the country.

The African Union theme for the Day of the African Child which is also being used by the 22nd Session of the Junior Parliament which is “A child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa” echoes the need for Government to ensure that sustainable education is achieved. The National Youth Policy in its strategic areas prioritises education and skills development.

The Youth Policy recommends that Government periodically review and revise the education and training curricula of the country to place increased emphasis on practical/vocational training to prepare and empower the youth for their roles in society and contributions to both formal and informal sectors. Girls and young women face specific challenges and issues.

The most disadvantaged are those residing in rural areas, those with disabilities, orphaned, single parents and children living on the streets. The youth policy proposes measures to correct gender education related imbalances and further provides for specific interventions targeting these girls and young women.

The National Youth Policy affirms the right of youth to be involved and meaningfully participate in national political, economic and social processes.

Innocent Katsande is the Communications and Advocacy officer for Zimbabwe Youth Council.

The policy proposes an expansion of educational and skills development facilities and equipment to ensure equitable distribution in rural and urban areas in order to accommodate the ever-increasing number and changing needs of young people.
The Youth Policy speaks of strengthening civic education programmes for the youth, promoting industrial exposure to students and expanding youth skills training centres paying special attention to entrepreneurship skills development, relevant farming and industrial incubation, and attachment options in every district along with information technology centres.
In its recommendations the Youth Policy clearly indicates the need to increase access and full utilization of available education and skills training facilities for the benefit of the community and other youth development activities, strengthen family and community based support programmes for all, identify and establish adequate and valid linkages between education and skills development.
The Youth Policy stresses that employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, culture, sport and recreation activities must be availed to young people. Government must encourage participatory partnership between the educators, students and the community.
Measures must be taken to support disadvantaged youth at all levels of education and skills development through social protection, loans, grants, cadetship, scholarships and other appropriate measures.
In practice, sustainable youth empowerment is creating an enabling environment for the youth to have the freedom to choose, to participate in and take decisions in matters affecting them and be ready to accept the consequences of their decisions.
Empowerment enables the youth to be active participants in both the process and product of development.
It has a democratizing impact.

The National Youth Policy affirms the right of youth to be involved and meaningfully participate in national political, economic and social processes.
Innocent Katsande is the Communications and Advocacy officer for Zimbabwe Youth Council.