Mokhali Khohlooa
Walk through the streets of Maseru on any weekday. Near the taxi ranks along Kingsway, young people sell airtime, roasted maize, sweets, second-hand clothes, and phone covers. Many of them are university graduates – some with diplomas in Business Management, Public Administration, or Education. Instead of working in offices, laboratories, or classrooms, they stand under umbrellas, hoping to make enough money to survive the day.
This is not because Basotho youth lack intelligence or ambition. It is because our economy is too narrow to absorb their skills. Youth unemployment in Lesotho is no longer a statistic – it is visible in our cities, in villages where graduates return home without work, and in the frustration of families who watch dreams stall before they can flourish. We produce certificates faster than we produce industries.
But this reality is not permanent. Lesotho is not isolated. We are a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, intergovernmental organization a network of 56 countries representing over two billion people. This membership is more than a historical connection it is access to markets, capital, technology, skills, and partnerships. The challenge is not membership; the challenge is leverage.
First, Lesotho must use Commonwealth trade networks to expand beyond survival industries. Our economy depends heavily on textiles and SACU revenues, which cannot absorb the growing number of graduates each year. Through strategic Commonwealth partnerships, Lesotho can attract investment into wool and mohair processing, agroprocessing, renewable energy manufacturing, tourism, and pharmaceutical packaging. Instead of exporting raw materials, we must export finished products. Imagine wool processed in Thaba-Tseka, branded in Maseru, and sold across Commonwealth markets. Imagine youth-run agribusinesses exporting packaged produce instead of raw crops. That is how jobs multiply.
Second, youth unemployment requires an entrepreneurial revolution. Many young Basotho have business ideas but lack funding and mentorship. Through Commonwealth enterprise funds and technical cooperation programmes, Lesotho can establish innovation hubs and startup incubators in Maseru, Leribe, and Mafeteng. These centres can provide digital training, financial literacy, seed capital, and international market linkages. Rather than competing for a limited number of government jobs, young people could build companies that employ others, turning street corners into centres of innovation and enterprise.
Third, Lesotho must position itself boldly within the global green economy. Our mountains hold water. Our skies offer sun. As the world invests in renewable energy and climate resilience, Lesotho should use Commonwealth climate finance mechanisms to fund solar farms, hydropower projects, and sustainable agriculture initiatives. These projects create skilled employment engineers, technicians, environmental managers, and construction workers – many of whom are currently unemployed youth. Green growth becomes both an environmental strategy and a youth employment strategy.
Fourth, digital integration can defeat geography. Being landlocked once meant limitation. Today, connectivity means opportunity. With stronger broadband infrastructure and targeted digital skills training, Basotho youth can provide services across Commonwealth countries – coding, accounting, graphic design, customer support. A graduate in Maseru can work for a firm in another Commonwealth nation without leaving home. This is how we turn global networks into local income and opportunity.
However, none of this will happen automatically. Lesotho must move from passive participation to active economic diplomacy. Our leaders must negotiate Commonwealth partnerships tied directly to youth employment. Embassies must promote Basotho businesses. Our education system must align with global skills demand. Multilateral agreements must translate into measurable jobs in communities – not remain statements on paper.
Most importantly, youth must sit at the table. We are not merely beneficiaries of policy – we are the drivers of innovation. When young people are empowered, economies grow faster and more sustainably.
Lesotho may be small in size, but small nations have transformed themselves through strategic global engagement. If we continue as we are, more graduates will stand in the streets of Maseru selling airtime beneath umbrellas. But if we deliberately leverage multilateralism and our Commonwealth membership, those same graduates will design products, manage renewable energy projects, run export businesses, and build digital enterprises.
The Kingdom in the Sky should not export its youth’s dreams. It should export its talent, its products, and its innovation. Our mountains have always symbolized strength and resilience. Now they must symbolize economic rise.
If we use our Commonwealth membership wisely and strategically, youth unemployment will not define this generation of Basotho. Opportunity will. Action will. Transformation will. Our future is waiting and it begins with us, here at home.
Mokhali Kholooa (20) is the winner of the 2026 Commonwealth Day Commemoration and Essay Competition, under the category of 16-20 years.
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