Uganda to host global youth entrepreneurs dialogue
Enterprise Uganda executive director Charles Ocici.
What you need to know:
Numbers. About 400,000 youth compete for 9,000 jobs annually.
Kampala. Uganda is set to host high level global dialogue sessions directed at devising means of mitigating household poverty through supporting the growth of entrepreneurship among the youth.
The deliberations scheduled to last for three days, effective tomorrow, will be held at Sheraton Kampala Hotel.
The events are expected to create a platform for the rest of the world to learn from the engagements with the local stakeholders and also share knowledge on the support worth extending to the youth entrepreneurs.
The events are being hosted by Youth Business International (YBI) and Enterprise Uganda with support from United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Sheraton, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), Barclays Bank, Restless Development and War Child.
According to Enterprise Uganda executive director Charles Ocici, the events running under the theme: The Promise of Youth seek to increase understanding of the kinds of support that young people need to enable them to start up sustainable businesses, encourage more support for youth developments in Africa and also celebrate successful young entrepreneurs from around the world.
“This gathering of young entrepreneurs and their leaders will for the first time take place in Africa and Uganda in particular, presenting an opportunity to selected young Ugandan entrepreneurs to showcase their products, share knowledge, skills and learn best practices embraced in other countries for business success,” he said during an interview with Daily Monitor.
Special attention will be placed on reviewing the performance of Northern Uganda Youth Entrepreneurship Project (NUYEP) that has been running since 2013 with an intention of boosting enterprise development in the areas whose development challenges were occasioned by a two- decade insurgency.
NUYEP, implemented by Enterprise Uganda and YBI with funding support from DFID ended last month, leaving 6,990 enterprises established after training 11,959 youth, yielding into the creation of 1,102 new jobs, 60 savings and investment clubs established, coupled with a 160% increase in beneficiaries’ average monthly incomes, courtesy of the Enteprise’s Uganda’s Basic Enterprise Start up tools (BEST) programme.
Enterprise Uganda data showst young people account for 83 per cent of the population and every year, some 400,000 young Ugandans enter the job market competing for at least 9,000 jobs. The meetings will look into finding ways of mitigating such challenges.
The awards
The events will close with the 2016 Global Youth Entrepreneurs’ awards, Uganda being the first African country to hold the event.
According to Enterprise Uganda, the awards present an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to draw lessons from the world’s most respected young businessmen and women and share experiences with global development experts.
