HARARE — President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has commended the Young Women for Economic Development (Young Women4ED) for their commitment to grassroots empowerment, patriotism and Zimbabwe’s broader socio-economic transformation agenda.
Speaking during an engagement with members of the organisation on 31 August 2026, President Mnangagwa described young women participating in the programme as an emerging generation of leaders whose contribution can shape both community development and the country’s economic future.
The President said the dedication and hard work demonstrated by members of Young Women4ED showed that Zimbabwe has a pool of young women prepared to take responsibility for national development and embrace the principles of servant leadership.
At the centre of his message was the importance of converting empowerment into productive economic activity.
President Mnangagwa highlighted the Presidential Empowerment Fund as one of the interventions through which Government is creating opportunities for women to access capital, business support and markets, particularly at grassroots level.
However, he stressed that access to resources must be matched by responsibility and measurable results, urging beneficiaries to use empowerment facilities productively so that they generate tangible benefits for households and communities.
The emphasis places young women within a broader economic transformation framework in which empowerment is not viewed merely as the distribution of financial resources, but as a pathway towards enterprise development, wealth creation, employment and sustainable livelihoods.
President Mnangagwa challenged young women to take advantage of available opportunities by moving into productive sectors and developing competitive Zimbabwean goods and services capable of accessing both domestic and international markets.
Such participation, he said, would contribute to the national objective of building an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
The President also linked economic empowerment to the social wellbeing of communities, noting that sustainable development requires a stable and healthy social environment.
He called for stronger community-based efforts to confront the growing challenge of drug and substance abuse, while encouraging citizens to uphold unity, discipline, patriotism, respect and loyalty.
“Let us stand together and play our respective roles in building the Zimbabwe we all desire, leaving no one and no place behind,” President Mnangagwa said.
The engagement therefore reinforced the growing role of young women in Zimbabwe’s development architecture, with Government positioning empowerment programmes as instruments for moving women from the margins of economic activity into production, entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
For Young Women4ED, the challenge now extends beyond participation. The emphasis is on turning access to resources into viable enterprises, sustainable incomes and community-level economic impact, aligning grassroots empowerment with the wider objectives of Vision 2030 and inclusive national development.
