Old Mutual Zimbabwe Limited (OMZIL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Local Works Zimbabwe Youth Program (LWZYP), a youth-led initiative that seeks to promote youth employment and economic empowerment in the country.
The Local Works Zimbabwe Youth Program will be convening a virtual Youth Stakeholders’ Meeting on August 23 2021 from 2pm to 5pm, aimed at providing a platform to listen, learn, and share experiences among stakeholders who are working with young people in Zimbabwe. The theme of the meeting will be “Youths can, We can!’’ and will emphasize the need for collaborative action for youth employment and economic empowerment.
Old Mutual Zimbabwe Limited Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Matsekete will be the guest speaker elaborating on Private-Public Partnerships and collaborative action towards youth empowerment. Old Mutual Zimbabwe Limited Head of Group Marketing and Innovation Lilian Mbayiwa will also be presenting on Youth Innovation and Changing Trends.
This Stakeholders’ Meeting also marks the conclusion of USAID/Zimbabwe’s 2021 Youth Month commemorations. Last year, during the launch of the Local Works Zimbabwe Youth Program, USAID Zimbabwe promised to facilitate the creation of a collaborative action network of local actors, promote multi-stakeholder dialogue, generate cross sectoral partnerships, and discover locally owned, sustainable collaborative solutions.
The Local Works Zimbabwe Youth Program is anchored on Positive Youth Development (PYD), a multi-sectoral approach to youth development, which engages youths together with their peers, families, and communities for better development outcomes. PYD emphasizes systems thinking in youth development. The program is also anchored on principles of locally-led development, where local actors are empowered to lead in setting priorities, decision-making, management, measurement, and other processes so as to improve systems and outcomes for development. By integrating PYD and locally-led development, the Mission’s approach is collaborative, strengthening local systems, and supporting local leadership for collective impact.
The Old Mutual Zimbabwe Group, like other large global corporations, faces the “innovation dilemma,” that is, choosing between maintaining and developing the existing business, and venturing into new areas.
Old Mutual decided to use the corporate incubator model and community of innovators to develop its own research, development and innovation capabilities. This saw the birth of the Eight2Five Innovation Hub at Three Anchor House, 4th Floor Jason Moyo Avenue, Harare.
The group established the first unique corporate based incubator in the country that speaks into its own innovation, youth support and economic development objectives. The hub has a co-working space to house external entrepreneurs for a fee, additionally, the co-working spaces are home for entrepreneurs from within the group, and OMZIL’s own incubator programs.
