Four hundred and seventeen young people from the city of Maputo today received certificates and terms of training for drawing up business plans. The best projects will be eligible for non-refundable funding of up to 1,500,000 meticais.

These are young entrepreneurs and other aspiring businesspeople selected in the first phase of the government program who will now benefit from face-to-face and remote training and mentoring coordinated by Ersnt & Young and IdeaLab.

The training will begin in the next few weeks and includes the best content that will be taught by renowned national business entities, consultants and bankers, as well as exposure to a network of successful entrepreneurs.

Representing the training partners, Yara Silva, clarified that this is the national phase and consists of equipping young people with the tools to better prepare and present their business plans.

The funding is non-refundable. Nationally, only 3,500 entrepreneurs were selected for this phase. The projects, submitted anonymously, will pass through the sieve of 116 independent judges (40% women) across the country, working in various fields, explained the representative of the auditing company, KPMG.

The Secretary of State for Youth and Employment (SEJE), Oswaldo Petersburgo, who presided over the ceremony, guaranteed that the budget had been allocated to fund the projects.

"The money is there. It's waiting for you. It's all in your hands now. It depends on your speed and ability to make viable business plans for sustainable companies," he said.

He also highlighted the other advantages that the training could bring, such as networking between different entrepreneurs.

"Today they have the opportunity, in a business and training environment, to find out what, how and where other young people are doing, and in these conversations they can start other businesses," he said.

In addition to training and funding, Petersburg said that in the operational phase the projects will receive trainees appointed and paid by the state.

"We're going to launch a competition soon to take on trainees who will go to your companies. These trainees will be paid by us with salaries above the minimum," he promised.

The event was attended by the runners-up, the representative of the Secretary of State of Maputo City, the representative of the World Bank, the consultancy firm KPMG and training partners.

Later today, a similar act will take place in the city of Matola, Maputo province.