FDH Bank Deputy Managing Director George Chitera with Mubas Vice Chancellor Dr Nancy Chitera and Rise and Shine representative Vincent Kambuku pose with the pupils

FDH Bank Plc says it is geared to empowering young Malawian university graduates, with innovative sustainable entrepreneurship project ideas that can help them to employ themselves and create other rooms for employment to fellow youths.

Deputy Managing Director of FDH Bank Plc, George Chitera said this on Tuesday in Mulanje during the launch of Rise & Shine Private Primary School which has seen the Bank inject K45 million.

The school is a project run by a group of Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) graduates under FDH Bank Graduate Start-up Program which was launched in December last year.

Chitera said they decided to come up with the program after being concerned with the increased unemployment rate among the youths in the country.

“As you are aware, challenges of unemployment are not a secret at all. Majority of students think they will get employment soon after graduating, which is never the case. Through this program, we are trying to encourage students to start thinking of venturing into entrepreneurship and we have also been engaging lecturers to take a responsibility in encouraging their students to also think of good business ideas which they can manage after finishing college.

“Today, we are impressed to see that after challenging these students last year during their symposium program where we asked them to come up with a business plan, they managed to introduce this school project,” Chitera said.

The FDH Bank Graduate Start-up initiative, which is the first of its kind in the financial services industry as well as the corporate world, identified five companies for the support including Rise & Shine School; Clean Energy of Enterprise (CLEE); Direct-Connect Real Estate Solutions (Di-coRES); Kuwali interior Design & Decoration (KIDD) and My Artistic Dream (School of Art and Gallery).

MUBAS vice-chancellor, Nancy Chitera, who attended the event, applauded FDH Bank for introducing the program saying it will help the young graduates who find it hard to secure jobs.

“It is true that most people believe that once they graduate, they will get employed, but FDH Bank has come to change that culture by encouraging graduates to produce a good business venture. We are now happy that our graduates managed to convince the bank and it is our expectation that a number of students will benefit from this program,” Chitera said.

Director for Rise & Shine Group, Cynthia Mayele also commended FDH Bank for the support saying their choice to open the school was part of their contribution towards quality education in Mulanje district.

“Before we reached where we are today, we went through primary school stages,” she said. “So, we considered establishing this school where children can acquire all the necessary education needs which they cannot access anywhere,” she said.

Rise & Shine Group has eight members and has already employed over 20 members of staff.

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