The National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM) has embarked on a fundraising initiative for the much touted K1 billion Youth Innovation Fund.

NYCOM is set to host Youth Innovation fundraising soccer bonanza on September 7-8 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe in order to raise  money towards the fund.

The fundraising soccer bonanza dubbed “Bingu Ikhome” is aiming at assisting young people in the country to provide startup capital for viable Youth innovative and entrepreneurial ideas.

In an interview with YFM Online, NYCOM Communications Officer Kate Tapiwa Kujaliwa said the initiative is one way of promoting youth socio-economic development and empowerment in the country.

“Youth Innovation Fund basically is there to support young people in agribusiness, to support young people in ICT, to also support young people who are doing different business but cannot afford to write a proposal, they do not have a collateral that they can go and negotiate with big banks,” she said.

The Bonanza will see four teams battle it out for K15 million prize money where the winner will walk away with K 7 million currently talks are under way to have Mighty Be-Forward Wanderers, Big Bullets, Silver Strikers and Blue Eagles roped in.

Kujaliwa has however appealed to different stakeholders, partners and the corporate world to come and participate in the initiative as one way assisting the country`s juveniles.

“This is where it starts by empowering young people economically, so we are asking partners to come through to get budget line which they can support, may be by supporting and accommodating the teams that will be travelling, may be helping us with advertising, marketing and promotion so that this thing can really be outstanding and we can raise the money necessary,” she said.

According to NYCOM, the council aims at raising money amounting to K35 million out of the intended K1 billion for the Youth Innovation Fund.

Recently, NYCOM Chief Executive Officer Dingiswayo Jere, whilst addressing an audience during Youth Innovations Awards, said the country should accommodate young people who have brilliant ideas because the country` s high rate of unemployment is largely due to low rate of employers.