Wanted: jobs for Africa’s youth - Entrepreneurship
Wanted: jobs for Africa’s youth - Entrepreneurship
By Gumisai Mutume
Another focus of action has been on spreading entrepreneurship skills beyond the schools. A number of countries have introduced entrepreneurship training programmes, including Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Policymakers believe that the promotion of small-business enterprises and the informal sector offer quick solutions to joblessness.
In Nigeria, which has more than 10 million small-business owners, the government supports new entrepreneurs through a network of about 20 industrial development centres that train youth, help them turn their ideas into feasible business ventures and supply them with credit.
But many of these programmes are not easily accessible to women, notes Ms. Christiana Okojie of the University of Benin, Nigeria. “Studies have shown that women tend to benefit less … as they are crowded out by men,” she reports. Women are at the back of the job queue, since they generally have lower levels of education, due in part to cultural and other biases against the training of girls. Ms. Okojie argues that governments should put in place deliberate affirmative action policies for poor, rural women and should establish training programmes in sectors that employ many women, such as trading and agricultural processing.
Responding to the need for gender-specific programmes, women lawyers, bankers, entrepreneurs and trainers set up the Kenya Women Finance Trust in 1981. It is the only micro-finance institution in the country exclusively for women, and it has more than 100,000 members. It grants cheap credit to low-income earners to start small businesses.
Wanted jobs for Africas youth Entrepreneurship - To learn more about this author, visit Africa Renewal's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
From Africa Renewal, Vol.20 #3 (October 2006), page 6
By Gumisai Mutume
Another focus of action has been on spreading entrepreneurship skills beyond the schools. A number of countries have introduced entrepreneurship training programmes, including Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Policymakers believe that the promotion of small-business enterprises and the informal sector offer quick solutions to joblessness.
In Nigeria, which has more than 10 million small-business owners, the government supports new entrepreneurs through a network of about 20 industrial development centres that train youth, help them turn their ideas into feasible business ventures and supply them with credit.
But many of these programmes are not easily accessible to women, notes Ms. Christiana Okojie of the University of Benin, Nigeria. “Studies have shown that women tend to benefit less … as they are crowded out by men,” she reports. Women are at the back of the job queue, since they generally have lower levels of education, due in part to cultural and other biases against the training of girls. Ms. Okojie argues that governments should put in place deliberate affirmative action policies for poor, rural women and should establish training programmes in sectors that employ many women, such as trading and agricultural processing.
Responding to the need for gender-specific programmes, women lawyers, bankers, entrepreneurs and trainers set up the Kenya Women Finance Trust in 1981. It is the only micro-finance institution in the country exclusively for women, and it has more than 100,000 members. It grants cheap credit to low-income earners to start small businesses.
Wanted jobs for Africas youth Entrepreneurship - To learn more about this author, visit Africa Renewal's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Africa's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 A Clean Desk Testing and Measuring Easy Product Ideas Working with Wisdom Pump Up Your Calendar |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs
Top 50 Geek Business Blogs | |
 |
The Top 10 GTD Times Posts
Best Posts for Productivity | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||