Our Reporter
STANDARD Lesotho Bank this week held its debut National Youth Debate at the ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre where Centre for Accounting Studies (CAS) came tops claiming the R40 000 cash prize.
They were competing against five other tertiary schools for the total prize of R100 000.
The dialogue was meant to offer a chance to the students to share their ideas to a panel of judges on “How can Lesotho go from being an import-dependent economy to a self-sufficient one?”
The other five tertiary institutions that took part in the competition were National University of Lesotho (NUL), Botho University (BU), Lesotho College of Education (LCE), Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) and Lerotholi Polytechnic (Fokothi).
Beside the CAS team pocketing the first prize, the team members each took home R8 000 and 40GB monthly data for three months from Econet Telecom Lesotho.
In second, NUL bagged R30 000 while the participants each got R5 000. LUCT came third winning 25GB monthly data for the two participants for the next three months.
Fokothi, LCE and BU participants each received R500 for getting fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively.
Teboho Sello, Standard Lesotho Bank’s head of personal banking, said the dialogue was meant to address the issues that were being faced young people including unemployment.
“We want to give the Lesotho youth an opportunity to contribute in shaping the future of our country. We have theme termed: How can Lesotho transition from an import led country to a self-sufficient economy,” Sello said.
Different institutions of higher present their thoughts on how Lesotho can become a better economy.
The event was combined with the launch of the bank’s “customer value proposition called FutureFlex, an account specifically for the youth of Lesotho that will enable them to build a better future for their lives”.
He said they were hoping to turn the debate into an annual event that circumnavigates around the youth talking about talking about those issues that matter for them.
“I don’t know what shape it will take next year but what I know is that it is going to be an annual event. Talking about things that matter for our young people.
He encouraged other corporates to start investing in the youth.
“We can all acknowledge that the you are an important fibre of our population (and) we need to make meaningful contributions towards making Lesotho a better place for our people,” Sello said.
