Africa encourages its youth to become entrepreneurs
The UN Development Program, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa organized the African Economic Conference, shedding light on jobs and entrepreneurship for a better future in the continent.
Boosting access to finance is the main obstacle facing Egyptian and African youth to become entrepreneurs, participants unanimously agreed during the three-day conference titled “Jobs, Entrepreneurship and Capacity Development for African Youth.”
African and Egyptian entrepreneurs shared experiences in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the sidelines of a conference Dec. 2-4, organized by the UN Development Program (UNDP), the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The private sector and entrepreneurship have emerged as the continent’s pillar for job creation, given the limited opportunities in the public sector. And the core message of the conference was, “If you are jobless, create your own business for a better future.”
“That’s what I have done — I launched my own metal carpentry workshop. I graduated from a vocational school seven years ago. I applied for a loan through a private funding firm assisting startups,” Mahmoud Soleiman, an Egyptian entrepreneur, told Al-Monitor.
