Turning job seekers into job makers

In a boost to youth enterprises in the Commonwealth Asia region, a Youth Enterprise Facilitation Centre has been launched in Chandigarh, India, to provide advice and facilitate finance for aspiring young entrepreneurs.

The centre - a joint initiative between the Corporation Bank in India and the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) Asia Centre - will be headed by an officer of the bank, who will provide online and face-to-face technical and capacity-building support to young entrepreneurs, and facilitate loans from branches of the Corporation Bank.

The facilitation centre, located at the CYP Asia Centre in Chandigarh, was inaugurated by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma and the Governor of the Indian State of Punjab, Shivraj Patil, during the Eleventh Commonwealth-India Small Business Competitive Development Programme on 13 February.

Mr Sharma said: “This initiative represents another significant step towards the economic enfranchisement of youth in the Commonwealth, and it is my hope that more programmes such as this will be undertaken by governments and financial institutions, not only in India but also in other Commonwealth countries.”

Corporation Bank is also working with the Commonwealth Secretariat to support pilot youth enterprise financing projects in six districts of India with an investment of Rs140 million (£2 million), which will be provided as concessional finance. The projects are expected to generate 1,500 jobs in the first phase of the programme.

José Maurel, Director of the Secretariat’s Special Advisory Services Division (SASD), explained that the initiative is aimed at ensuring that young people are transformed from job seekers to job makers. These young people, who will be chosen for their entrepreneurial ability and willingness, will be provided with technical and financial support for a minimum of two years.

Mr Maurel said: “We hope to demonstrate that young people can be made bankable. We want to enable young people to grow and start their own enterprises by enabling them to access affordable finance. This also ties in with the Secretariat’s emphasis on mainstreaming youth, who account for around 60 per cent of the Commonwealth, in sustainable economic activities.”

These initiatives are part of the Secretariat’s Youth Enterprise Financing Programme, formally launched at the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and led by SASD. It aims to develop a sustainable and replicable model for financing youth enterprises by allowing young entrepreneurs to access, and have the capacity to use, affordable finance.

Last year the Secretariat, in association with the Central Bank of India, launched the Youth Enterprise Financing Programme in four districts of India. The Central Bank of India has invested Rs50 million (£750,000) and the initiative has assisted 95 enterprises so far, directly impacting 575 jobs. The programme will also be piloted in Kenya in partnership with the Munga Foundation.

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