Forum encourages youth entrepreneurship

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Young people from 35 countries have gathered in Yogyakarta to explore ways to promote youth entrepreneurship.

The three-day Global Youth Entrepreneurship Forum was officially opened Thursday by Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

Also scheduled to appear at the forum are Indonesian State Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs Adyaksa Dault, Malaysian Minister for Youth Affairs Datuk Azalina Othman Said and Namibian Deputy Minister for Youth Affairs Pohamba Shifeta.

Some 200 young people have come from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Europe to attend the forum, which is being organized by the World Assembly of Youth (WAY), an international coordinating body of national youth councils and organizations that has 115 member organizations from all continents.

Speaking at a joint press conference here Wednesday, WAY president Mohd. Ali bin Mohd Rustam said the forum in Yogyakarta was the first such event held by the organization since it was established in London in 1949.

The assembly says in the future it plans to make the forum a periodic event, to provide a platform for young entrepreneurs, NGO workers, youth activists and others to promote youth entrepreneurship as a means of viable youth employment creation.

"This year we are concentrating on matters concerning ICT (information and communication technology) and small business development," said Rustam, who is also chief minister of the Malaysian state of Melaka.

He said the forum was focusing on job creation because there were more than 60 million young people worldwide currently looking for jobs.

"And this increases about 50 percent every year," said Rustam, underlining the importance of such conferences in helping young people develop their entrepreneurial skills and become job creators rather than job seekers.

It is also for this reason that educators, businesspeople and NGO activists, especially from youth organizations, have been invited to the forum to share their experiences.

Organizers hope the forum will help young people make use of ICT to develop small businesses efficiently and effectively, which in turn will help reduce the global youth unemployment rate.

The International Labor Organization has reported that of the 60 million unemployed young job seekers worldwide, 80 percent are in developing countries.

Forum organizing committee chairwoman GKR Pembayun said it hoped a one-day seminar and two-day workshop held during the forum would give young people the tools to start businesses in their hometowns, rather than migrating to large cities in search of work.