BY MENGISTEAB TSHOME
With so many challenges stemming from issues of unemployment, lack of infrastructure (both soft and hard) and most importantly lack of funding instruments for entrepreneurship, being a young entrepreneur requires a great deal of perseverance, networking and passion. What is more, creating an environment which is receptive and rewards creativity empower young people to believe in themselves and provide them an opportunity to be active participants of national economy.
Documents indicated that youth entrepreneurship in Africa is still low and a lot remains to be done to respond to the lack of access to affordable funding, support services and skills training, while facing administrative constraints. Ethiopia is not exceptional to this fact. Despite the entire motive to engage in private businesses and have all entrepreneur skills, the youth are still looking for financial backup, training package and others.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Labor and Skills Minister, Public Relation and Communications CEO, Abebe Alemu, said that the Ministry is working aggressively to equip the future entrepreneurs through education and partnership programs along with public and private institutions. “The focus of the Ministry is to create productive entrepreneurs that take risks and involve themselves in a value chain business, service sectors and create job opportunities. We are nurturing an entrepreneurship culture among the community and creating industrious youth. Currently, we are witnessing the youth showing more interest in entrepreneurship and business ownership than ever before.”
The Ministry is working to provide training for senior leadership and instructors found at various higher learning institutions as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Trainings (TVETs). Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), General Manager, Hassan Hussein (PhD) noted that EDI provides various entrepreneurship training packages in order to increase the capacity (skill and competency) of entrepreneurs.
“EDI is envisioned to shift the mentality of the youth. It is working aggressively to motivate young entrepreneurs. The attitude of the young people has a principal significance in occupational startups thereby contributing to the economy.” The types of training package that EDI provides are entrepreneurship training workshop, customized, women, youth, and rural entrepreneurship training respectively.
EDI is an autonomous institution under Ministry of Labor and Skills, came into being following the latest government reorganization bringing together two entities, namely: The UNDP-supported Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), established in February 2013, and the World Bank-financed Women Entrepreneurship Development Project (WEDP), inaugurated in December 2012. Both projects used to operate under the auspices of the former Ministry of Urban Development and Construction before the reorganization.
EDI aims to midwife the emergence of a vibrant, competitive, and innovative private sector driven by a dynamic, vibrant, and growth-oriented SME sector. This is accomplished through a comprehensive package of entrepreneurship support programs ranging from ecosystem and capacity building to business development services (BDS), access to finance, and market linkage.
“The institute holds that development of entrepreneurship and support to business start-ups helps address this employment gap, helping people to develop their own potential and find ways to generate income and employment for themselves and others.”
According to Hassan, to this day the EDI has trained more than 250, 000.00 entrepreneurs. Compared to the population size the nation has got further effort is needed to fill the gap. Nurturing entrepreneurship skills among the youth is not an option for Ethiopia. It should be the central goal. Though critical challenges remain ahead, particularly, the need to create a significant number of jobs for the nation’s booming population, the need to build home-grown businesses and nurturing entrepreneurs that can penetrate into the global market should be our priority.
Ethiopia, with a population of more than hundred million, is quickly becoming a hot spot for young businessmen and entrepreneurs. As some documents indicated, the biggest business opportunities in the coming decade will be created by Africans who start businesses, generate jobs and wealth, and capture growth opportunities. As Africa is increasingly taking its place on the global stage as a continent of growth and opportunity, Ethiopia should work in harmony to equip the coming generation with global business opportunities.
In this regard, working on the mindset of the young people has a paramount importance in business startup thereby contributing their share in the economy of the country. Indeed, Ethiopia is a land of youth but the job opportunity created per year compared to the number of graduating students is unmatched. Bridging this gap needs an active involvement of both the private and public sectors.
This could be done either by easing the business road for the youth entrepreneurs and reversing the business as usual trend. The country should work aggressively in this area because the public sector cannot carry all the burden of providing all the job opportunities to newly graduated students. Its effort should be shared by the private enterprises as well. To advance its economic transformation and create decent jobs, Ethiopia needs to promote youth entrepreneurship.
With millions of young Ethiopians unable to secure formal employment opportunities, boosting entrepreneurship is critical to harnessing their energy and advancing Ethiopia`s economic transformation and industrial development. Several economic reforms taken by the government of Ethiopia have targeted to create more decent job opportunities. In this regard, supporting the effort of entrepreneurs in the form of facilitating training packages or providing them with necessary inputs further inspire the youth to be more innovative and risk takers.
The Ethiopian Herald may 7/2023
