The Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB) and the Zanzibar Economic Empowerment Agency (ZEEA) have signed an agreement aimed at seeking employment opportunities for beneficiaries of higher education loans to enable them to repay the given loans.
The signing ceremony took place on 18th March 2024 at the HESLB offices located at the Dar es Salaam Postal Street and was attended by the Chairman of the HESLB Board of Directors, Prof. Hamisi Dihenga, the Executive Director of HESLB, Dr. Bill Kiwia, the Executive Director of ZEEA, Juma Burhan Mohamed, and other executives from HESLB and ZEEA.
“In addition to employment opportunities, we are entering into this partnership to accelerate the repayment of loans from entrepreneurs who have benefited from higher education loans and also to signify goodwill and enhance efficiency through strategic partnerships as directed by our leaders, Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan and Dr. Hussein Mwinyi,” said Dr. Kiwia at the event.
Dr. Kiwia stated that through this agreement, HESLB will continue to empower youth to acquire education through loans, while ZEEA will enhance their skills through incubation centers to increase their self-employment or employment opportunities, particularly in the tourism and Blue Economy sectors.
On his part, ZEEA Executive Director Juma Burhan Mohamed said their institution is building the capacity of youth through incubation centers in Zanzibar aimed at enhancing the skills of university graduates.
“We met for the first time on February 28th of this year, but since both parties have shown readiness, that is why today we have been able to reach this stage of signing agreements that will enable more efficiency for our institutions,” said Director Mohamed.
ZEEA is a public institution established in 2022 to empower Zanzibar citizens economically. Additionally, HESLB was established in 2004 to provide loans to needy students and collect matured loans from beneficiaries of higher education loans provided by the Government since the academic year 1994/1995.