💻Minister of ICT launches Youth Digital Skills Programme at Lavumisa Library.

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In today’s email…

•  Lavumisa Goes Digital

• Why do we struggle with Grocery shops in Eswatini as Swazis?

• Need to know: Eswatini Eyes Japanese Investment & Trade Boost

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💻📡 Lavumisa Goes Digital: Swazi Youth Plug Into the Future (With Free Wi-Fi)

This week, a group of wide-eyed, Wi-Fi-ready young EmaSwati gathered under the fluorescent lights of Lavumisa Library not to borrow books, but to download opportunity.

Minister of ICT, Savannah Maziya, officially hit Launch on the Youth Digital Skills Programme, a nationwide initiative turning sleepy public libraries into buzzing tech training hubs. Think Google meets Gugulethu, Microsoft in Maphungwane.

💡 What’s the Programme, Anyway?

In plain terms: It’s a skills bootcamp for rural youth, built for the TikTok generation but powered by legit industry giants like Microsoft, Google, and Cisco.

More than 2,300 young people have signed up, and over 100 already boast shiny digital certifications. The goal? Teach practical, market-ready digital skills so that Swazi youth don’t just consume tech, they build with it.

The curriculum?
📘 Digital Literacy
🧰 Microsoft Office Tools
🌐 Google Workspace
🧠 Networking
🔒 Cybersecurity
☁️ Cloud Computing

The setup is smart: blended learning a mix of online courses and on-site guidance. So if the internet hiccups mid-Zoom, there’s a human on standby with backup USBs and moral support.

📡 Partners in (Digital) Crime

The rollout is a group effort, backed by heavy-hitters:

• MTN Eswatini (Wi-Fi wizards)

• UNDP (development dollars and spreadsheets)

• Eswatini National Library Services (real-life Ctrl+S heroes)

Inclusivity isn’t just a buzzword here, it’s baked in. The programme specifically targets youth, women, and persons with disabilities, ensuring the digital divide isn’t another way to widen inequality.

🗣️ Maziya’s Mic Drop Moment

Standing in front of the Lavumisa crowd with the kind of conviction usually reserved for TED Talks, Minister Maziya declared:

She emphasized that Swazi-built innovations can solve global problems from Lavumisa to Lagos, to London, to Los Angeles.

And this isn’t a one-off.

The initiative is part of “Government in Your Hand,” the country’s larger digital push to bring public services to the palm of your hand. No more long queues, no more taxi money to Manzini just to ask about your ID card. Just swipe, tap, done.

Oh, and yes, there’s an app for that.

⚠️ What's the Catch?

Well, like all things tech, it’s a work in progress.

Not all government services are on the platform yet. But Maziya says updates are coming, one .zip file at a time.

🚀 Final Word: The Future Needs You

Maziya wrapped up with a call to arms for the young and ambitious:

So, whether you’re a code-curious teen in Lavumisa or a YouTube-taught techie in Nhlangano, the message is clear: Digital isn't the future. It’s now.

TL;DR:

• Swaziland just launched a national digital skills initiative via public libraries.

• Over 2,300 youth are already enrolled. Microsoft, Google, and Cisco are involved.

• It’s free. It’s inclusive. And it’s quietly building the country’s next generation of coders, engineers, and cloud architects, starting in places the world usually ignores.

• The Minister’s dream? Put Lavumisa on the global tech map.

📶 Next stop: turning every village into a startup incubator.

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🛒 GROCERY SHOPS IN ESWATINI: WHY WE’RE LOSING OUR STORES

From the streets of Matsapha to the valleys of Hhohho, a quiet crisis is simmering behind the counters of your local Swazi-run grocery store.

It’s not that we don’t want to #BuyLocal.
It’s not that we don't know our community.
It’s not even that we don’t have hustle.

It’s that the entire system is working against us.

So today, we’re unpacking a truth sandwich with all the local flavor and zero preservatives:
Why do Swazi-run grocery stores struggle to survive, while foreign-run ones flourish?

Grab a loaf, let’s break it down.

🧯 PART I: THE UNGLAMOROUS TRUTH

Let’s be honest: owning a grocery store sounds like an easy business.

You buy.
You stock.
You sell.
You repeat.

Right?

Wrong.

Running a successful grocery store is like running a Formula 1 pit stop precise timing, perfect coordination, low margin for error.

And here’s what’s tripping us up:

🔍 1. We Don’t Buy in Bulk Like the Big Dogs

Walk into a Chinese-owned shop and you’ll find:

• Shelves always full

• Prices so low it makes your uncle’s corner store look like Woolworths

• Inventory that moves like hot vetkoeks

Why?
Because they buy in bulk, together, and split the savings.

Your average Swazi grocer?
Buying 5 boxes of Maize Meal at retail price and hoping for a profit.

That’s not business. That’s diet wishful thinking.

💸 2. Price Wars We Can’t Win

Customers chase bargains like it’s Black Friday every day.
E1 cheaper? They’ll switch loyalties faster than a voter during free T-shirt season.

So, if you can’t buy cheaply, you can’t sell cheaply.
If you can’t sell cheaply, you lose customers.
It’s a brutal cycle — and it’s not in your favor.

🧮 3. Most Shops Are Run Like Side Hustles, Not Businesses

We get it. You needed to do something.
But if your inventory system is “eye test” and your sales tracking lives in your cousin’s head, you’re playing checkers in a chess world.

Meanwhile, your competitors have:

• POS systems

• Digital inventory

• Weekly supplier reports

We’re bringing bread knives to gunfights.

🧊 4. Where Are the Fridges?

You walk into some shops and:

• The bread is stale.

• The milk is warm.

• The vibe is panic.

People want to shop in stores that feel like they care.
Presentation matters. Lighting matters. Smell matters.

Swazi shops often get stuck in “survival mode” — no reinvestment, no upgrades, no growth.

🏦 5. Capital is a Thief of Dreams

Banks aren’t exactly lining up to fund small Swazi grocers.
So many start with:

• Personal savings

• Loan sharks

• Or worse… credit from the same suppliers they hope to undercut

That limits stock variety, freezes growth, and strangles innovation.

🧾 6. And Don’t Forget “Ngitawukhokha NgeFriday” Culture

A real killer?
Credit culture.

Ask any local shop owner. They’ll tell you:

It’s noble.
It’s a community.
But it’s also bad business.

Your store becomes an NGO, and you can’t scale kindness.

🤝 7. We Don’t Work Together — But They Do

What if 20 local shop owners formed a buying cooperative?

• Bulk discounts

• Shared delivery

• Joint marketing

It’s not rocket science. But in practice?
Egos, politics, and lack of trust stop it before it starts.

Meanwhile, the competition?
Collaborating. Syndicating. Dominating.

🧠 8. No Mentorship, No Systems, No Progress

Who’s training the next generation of Swazi grocers?

No one.

There are no accelerator programs for grocery stores. No masterclasses on pricing perishables. No playbooks on surviving “month-end” chaos.

We’re left to figure it out as we go, and pay for mistakes in cash.

SO… WHAT CAN WE DO?

Let’s stop pretending it’s all doom and gloom.

This country is full of smart, hungry entrepreneurs. What we need is infrastructure.

Here’s a 5-item shopping list to fix our local grocery hustle:

1. 📦 Create Swazi Buying Clubs - to unlock bulk discounts.

2. 🧑‍💻 Launch Micro-MBA Workshops - on how to run a profitable retail shop.

3. 🔌 Bring in Tech Tools - for sales, stock, and customer loyalty.

4. 🚛 Build Mobile Grocery Platforms - that serve remote areas.

5. 💰 Set Up a Local Retail Fund - to help high-potential shops expand.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

Swazis don’t lack the heart.
We lack the systems.

It’s time we stop being store owners and start being retail entrepreneurs.

Because if we don’t rewrite the rules, someone else will continue to win the game.

Got a cousin running a shop? A friend thinking of starting one?
Send them this newsletter. Let’s build better together.

NEED-TO-KNOW: Eswatini Eyes Japanese Investment & Trade Boost

Eswatini is setting its sights eastward. At the Eswatini-Japan Business Forum in Osaka, hosted on the sidelines of Expo 2025, the Kingdom made a bold pitch for stronger trade and investment ties with Japan.

Here’s what matters:

• 📦 Eswatini wants greater access to Asian markets, especially for its key exports: ethanol, sugar, and timber.

• 📈 The country aims to tap into Japan’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a trade framework that lowers tariffs for developing nations, to boost exports and fix trade imbalances.

• 🌏 Japan, with a $4+ trillion GDP and ranking as the 5th largest trading nation, presents a massive economic opportunity.

The kicker?
With strategic geography in Southern Africa, political stability, and an investor-friendly environment, Eswatini is ready to turn interest into deals, and Japan might just be the right partner to fuel its export ambitions.

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