Business
THE NATION ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 9, 2011
VOL 1 NO. 029
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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has committed to job creation as a primary growth driver, and vigorously started working to actualize set-objectives in this regard. Interestingly, he has also identified the most critical work-mates towards achieving success in this noble cause among the youths of this country. This is a clarion call from a leadership determined to drive change through an all-inclusive engagement, propelled by commitment to industry, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. To this end, the President is set to launch a special program targeted at increasing youth employment, tagged YOUTH ENTERPRISE WITH INNOVATION YouWIN. YouWIN is about the power of positive thinking and a determination to propel success by working up inner strength; it's about keeping up hope in the face of manifest constraints. It is a commitment to an enduring solution for sustained national development. It is about waking the consciousness of a people towards greatness. YouWIN is about inviting the youths in Nigeria to the task of building a wealthier Nigerian nation, breaking down forces that contrive impossibility in the magnitude that threatens call to duty. Essentially, Youth Enterprise With Innovation (YouWIN) Program is a Federal Government initiative designed to help generate employment for Nigerians by encouraging and supporting her aspiring entrepreneurial youths develop and execute business ideas that will lead to job creation. It is designed to provide aspiring youths with a platform to showcase their business acumen, skills and aspirations to business leaders, investors and mentors in Nigeria. This is certainly a propelling force that connects with every well-meaning Nigerian as the country move forward to greatness from her 51years anniversary. Within the context of global outlook as a member of the world committee of nations, Nigeria plays as a brand, and that is the perspective from which we at MC&A Digest like to look at the whole issue of employment and the government's efforts. As a nation, Nigeria contributes to global trend in macro-economic growth consideration and employment and gross domestic product. So if we must rebrand, these are some of the very important performance indicators that will speak for us, loudest. As a brand, therefore, Nigeria must be competitive among committee of nations in the area of total equity and image perception. Gradation of nation-states in global reckoning derives from such considerations. Nigeria must, therefore, concern herself with deliberate efforts to properly position her as a successful nation (brand) among others, by driving over-all economic growth, with measurable contribution from a productive and gainfully engaged labor force. Economic growth is best defined as a long term expansion of the productive potential of the economy. Sustained economic growth, following from the above, therefore, should in turn lead to higher real living standards and rising employment. In addition, sustained economic growth propels fiscal dividend, investment acceleration and growth & business confidence. It is this belief that is driving the President's total commitment to job creation. To him, there is no alternative to creating jobs for the ever-growing working population in Nigeria, especially the youths, if the country must record sustainable economic growth. According to the President, YouWIN is all about tackling unemployment by stimulating the vanguard for regeneration. Rather than look for job openings, YouWIN will help the youth create jobs for themselves while the government provide all the key components of funding,
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YouWIN equals jobs for Nigerian Youths training, supervision and encouragement, such that will see the youth open up the nation's economy. YouWIN exactly identifies access to finance as one of the major challenges facing the Nigerian enterprises, while businesses owned by the young people under 30 as more severely affected. Add to that is the issue of capacity building, training and retraining. To address these needs, therefore, the Youth Enterprise Support and Innovation program as a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry for Information and Communication Technology and the Ministry of Youth Development, will holistically address all of these needs to provide a safe environ-
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ment for the enterprising youth to drive their vision. The modalities for youth engagement include free entry for youths in Nigeria, with a clear indication of innovation, creativity, industry and sense of purpose. For effectiveness, the core component of the YouWIN program is a nation-wide Business Plan Competition that will be implemented in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, with the following objectives in focus: • Attract ideas and innovations from young entrepreneurial aspirants from Universities, Polytechnics, Technical Colleges and other post- Secondary institutions in Nigeria. • Provide funds for 1,200 selected aspiring entrepreneurs to start or expand their business concepts and mitigate start-up risks. • To generate 40,000 to 50,000 new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over the next three years • Provide business training for 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs spread access all geo-political zones in Nigeria. • Encourage expansion, specialization and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria. • Enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business
professional network and improve their visibility. According to an International Labor Organization ILO - document published in October 2010, unemployment remains elevated globally. Many economies are simply not generating sufficient employment opportunities to absorb growth in working age population. Going by the strategic direction of the nation's Vision 2020, the Nigerian labor management relations environment should provide for higher employment, job protection and greater productivity in line with the International Labor Organization standards. Somewhere in the Vision 2020 documents states “Targets set for the different eighteen sectors of the Nigerian economy … project that an estimated 11,260,000 additional jobs could be created in 2011; 18,670,000 in 2015 and 20,250,000 in 2020”. These are given as safe scientific growth projections based on set-targets. However, the ILO document on world trend in economic growth and sustainable employment seem to be a bit more cautious on such ambitious projections. Going by the ILO report, large decent labor work deficits continue to characterize the lab our market in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, better employment policies are needed (focusing on expanding productive employment opportunities and improving social protection), to drive real growth in this sector of our national economy. Perhaps that is the reason for Ghana's National Social Protection Strategy project; a 5yr US$91 million project, designed to achieve capacity building, support her ongoing Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program and drive Labor Intensive Public Works. Back home in Nigeria, President Jonathan has crystalised a vision focused on the critical mass the youthful of creativity, energy and vision to do the seemingly impossible (see the Vision 2020 employment generation growth projection). It is therefore just apt that the program is coined YouWIN - YOUTH ENTERPRISE With INNOVATION. Everything about this program that is all set to take off is geared towards the unusual. The most important assignment of a leader is leadership, and a people must begin to see the quality and discharge of such function in the vision of their leader. The design and intent of the YouWIN initiative portrays the President's commitment to positively impacting on the economic growth of Nigeria. Barring all unforeseen circumstances, the youth should rise up to the challenge at this point in time. Together, we shall all win in this task of creating more jobs for Nigerians, even beyond the Vision 2020 projection.