Youths urged to embrace entrepreneurship

A youth empowerment initiative, Youth with a Vision Foundation, has urged young people in the country to be job creators and employers of labour.

The President of the Foundation, Mr. Elvis Ukpaka, said the unemployment rate in the country had become too alarming for young talents to waste away while waiting for paid employment.

He made the remarks while addressing participants at a forum organised by the Foundation on Saturday in Lagos.

Stating what gave birth to the initiative, Ukpaka said, “We saw a vacuum in the society, especially among the young people who are working without purpose because there is no one to guide them. We decided to take that responsibility and bridge the gap, especially in helping the youth to get job creation and leadership ability because they are the leaders of tomorrow. We also want to help them in their career because many of them are in the wrong careers.

He advised the government to overhaul the educational system of the country to instill more entrepreneurship trainings in youths, noting that the current arrangement encourages reliance on white collar jobs.

The Chief Executive Officer of Olive Microfinance Bank, Chibuzor Duru, advised that prospective entrepreneurs must understand what they want to do before approaching banks for loan to finance their ideas.

“Many don’t know what they want to do when they come for loans to finance their ideas. Others only come up with business plans that they dubbed somewhere. So, when you ask them questions, they cannot answer. Yet, the pathetic thing is that some of these youths don’t know that it is not all businesses that you need loans for,” he said.

The Area Commander, Area H Police Command, ACP Kehinde Longe encouraged the participants to shun crime and illicit means of making money.

 One of the participants, a graduate of Integrated Science Education, Franklin Adagbon, said “One thing that really struck me is that aspect of writing a business plan, which was well explained. I will go home and study it and come up with something for myself.”