The YERF is a business support mechanism established for Youth (18 – 35 years) to:

• Promote youth entrepreneurship (youth-owned and managed enterprises)  
• Provide seed capital or business loans, empowerment and support
• Contribute to the reduction of youth unemployment and poverty alleviation
• Improve linkages for youth enterprises with relevant stakeholders

Vision

“To be an innovative, trusted, effective, self -sustaining & inclusive youth development finance institution, economically empowering the Swati youth”. 

Mission

“To foster youth economic participation through facilitating and enhancing youth entrepreneurship, accelerated and sustained economic growth for the creation of sustainable youth employment, empowerment and social upliftment”.

Core Values

The following are the core values of YERF:

• Accessibility
• Efficiency
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Integrity
• Equity
• Governance

General Lending Requirements

• Certified copy of ID
• Completed loan application form
• Business proposal
• Market confirmations
• Entity registration documents
• Trading license (where applicable)
• Applicable licenses and/or permits
• Valid bank account
• Proof of authority for business premises

Cija Ngebhizinisi

MTN Eswatini and SEDCO (Small Enterprise Development Company) came into a partnership and started the Cija ngebhizinisi radio program. This program was aimed to teach the fundamentals of entrepreneurship over radio using siSwati. This program was in part a fulfillment of the reviewed Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMME) policy of 2017.

The policy aims to create a modern, comprehensive, targeted and coherent framework that will build a highly profitable and entrepreneurial sector that is characterized by innovative, competitive, and sustainable businesses. Cija ngebhizinisi aired every Wednesday at 7:30 pm on Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Service (EBIS) 1. After 18 weeks of airing the program, about 20 winners were selected and afforded a chance to have an eye-to-eye capacity building, and out of these, 5 won a seed capital worth E10 000 each.