The Malawi Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF), a micro-finance institution in the country, has admitted that it is struggling to collect money close to K3 billion which the youth got from the institution in form of loans.

MEDF Chief Operations Officer, Dingiswayo Jere said most of the youth who accessed the loans through the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) did not go for a proper training on how to operate businesses hence failing to make profits from their businesses.

Jere said: “Most of the beneficiaries did not have skills for running businesses and this led to their failure in multiplying the invested capital a development which saw their money going down the drain hence their failure to pay back the loans.”

He further said MEDF has intensified its means of reclaiming back the loans including using legal action to ensure that the loans are paid back.

“We are calling those who haven’t settled their loans with the institution to come forward and those who are still failing to do so then we are taking them to court and also using our debt collectors,” Jere said.

He lamented that the development is hindering others from benefiting from the initiative as planned.

MEDF formerly MARDEF, changed in 2014 through a formal legal process to operate as a micro-finance institution in the country.