GITEGA, August 9th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, met on Wednesday, August 7, 2024 in Gitega (central Burundi), the heads of the coordination unit of the youth economic empowerment and employment programme for (PAEEJ) and the expanded committee responsible for monitoring the activities implemented by the said programme.
In his opening remarks, President Ndayishimiye noted that this retreat was organized to critically assess the state of play of the implementation of development projects financed by PAEEJ during the last two years throughout the country.
The Head of State also indicated that the government has decided to create a new generation to create a new Burundi; hence he called on young people to demonstrate a change in the management of state resources for the country to have export products because, he explained, some adult intellectuals who have sometimes occupied different positions of responsibility have been tainted by corruption.
In that session, the President of the Republic took the opportunity to congratulate the PAEEJ coordination unit and the members of the expanded committee for monitoring the action of the PAEEJ, for having objectively implemented the program as it had been designed by the competent services.
President Ndayishimiye finally indicated that he hopes in the future that the PAEEJ will be able to operate thanks to the interests generated by the loans granted to companies and not with the capital of the State.
For his part, the PAEEJ Coordinator, Professor Désiré Manirakiza, reported that the PAEEJ coordination unit and the expanded committee responsible for monitoring the activities implemented by this programme currently have a feeling of satisfaction with what has been done since its inception in April 2021.
Mr. Manirakiza said that out of 3,449 projects that PAEEJ has already funded, only 10% have failed. He indicated that these projects are carried out by more than 6,000 young people, enabling the creation of 10,000 jobs. “Normally, according to theories, out of 100 entrepreneurship or start-up projects funded, 80% fail in the first 3 years, but PAEEJ has already recorded 10% failure in the funded projects; hence a feeling of satisfaction,” the national coordinator of PAEEJ, Mr. Manirakiza Désiré said. He did not forget to point out that each cooperative or youth group must reimburse the entire amount received despite the known failure, but that the PAEEJ takes care of the supervision of those young entrepreneurs who have failed so that they can recover the lost money and be able to pay the loan they applied from PAEEJ.