Youth Entrepreneurshipasa Road Showof Reducing Youth Unemploymentand Sustainable Economic Growth Challenges Issuesandpolicy Supportin Bangladesh

Indian Journal of Development Research and Social Action (ISSN: 0973-3116)
Volume 10, N0.1-2, January-December 2014, Page195-214
Youth Entrepreneurship as a Road Show of Reducing Youth

Unemployment and Sustainable Economic Growth; Challenges, Issues
and policy Support in Bangladesh
Md. Abu Issa Gazi1, Nahid Akter2
Abstract
Entrepreneurship creates an opportunity for a person to make a contribution. Most new
entrepreneurs help the local economy. A few through their innovations contribute to society as a
whole. With an estimated 88 million young women and men worldwide unemployed, the need for
employment creation efforts focusing on youth is undeniable. This article focuses on the issues and
constraints affecting the youth entrepreneurs and pledge proliferation proponents for their
development. This comprehensive desk research involved a scrupulously review of relevant
international literature relating to youth entrepreneurship and self-employment, including relevant
credentials texts and journal articles, and other publications. Entrepreneurship is an imperative to
spur this process. It is agreed that enterprise initiative with virtual qualities can accelerate the
industrialization process. Youth entrepreneurs need two-pronged strategic supports –
entrepreneurship development and enterprise creation. Capital, non financial supports and policy
interventions will accelerate entrepreneurship development and enterprise creation.
Key Points: Youth entrepreneurship, Unemployment, Scrupulously, Meticulous, ILO,
1.0 Introduction
“By the year 2015, there will be three billion people under the age of 25, they are the future ... they
are also the now” (James D. Wolfensohn, 2003). The world is in transition searching for more
innovative ways to combine economic growth, the reduction of poverty and equitable development
in a more environmentally sustainable manner. There is a mounting concern in all corners of the
world about both the short and long term impact of globalization on the environment and a dawning
realization that ensuring the quality of present and future life and employment depend on how well
we tackle this challenge(C. Martin and J.D. Christensen,2010). Reducing youth unemployment is
one of the major challenges facing most governments in the world for decades to come. With an
estimated 88 million young women and men worldwide unemployed, the need for employment
1
Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, The People`s University of Bangladesh, Dhaka. E-Mail:
issa02057251@.com, Cell: 01717883624
2
Lecturer,Department of Business Administration, Asian University of Bangladesh, Dhaka. E-Mail:nahid11@gmail.com
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creation efforts focusing on youth is undeniable. According to a recent study conducted by the
International Labour Office (ILO), youth are generally three and a half times more likely than adults
to be unemployed. In 2015, approximately 660 million young people will either be working or
looking for work – an increase of 7.5 per cent over the 2003 figure (Schoof, Ulrich,2006). While
bound up with the overall employment situation, this challenge has its own specific dimensions and
therefore requires targeted responses. The world’s population is growing at a time when traditional,
stable labour markets are shrinking. More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 24 years of
age and nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population is below the age of 20. The ILO estimates that
47 per cent of all unemployed persons globally are young women and men and 660 million young
people will either be working or looking for work in 2015.(ILO)
Globally, the ILO estimates that the number of unemployed youth is on the rise again since 2011,
after declining somewhat from the peak it reached at the height of the global financial crisis. It is
expected to reach 73.4 million young people by 2013 (ILO 2012). The global youth unemployment
rate has also been rising since 2011; it is currently estimated at 12.6 percent and is projected to
increase to 12.8 percent by 2018. In contrast, the global adult unemployment rate, while also rising
slightly, is much lower at 4.6 percent in 2013 (ILO 2012).
While we strive to take a global perspective on youth employment challenges, our focus in this paper
is on the developing regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These are the regions of the world
where the great majority of youth in the world currently reside. These are also the regions where
youth employment challenges are most likely to be associated with the demographic challenges
posed by growing youth populations in recent decades. We focus primarily on youth ages 15 through
24 but sometimes also consider 25- to 29-year-olds because there is growing evidence that the
transition to adulthood, including the transition to work, is now more protracted and extends into
these higher ages (R. Assaad and D. Levison, 2013).
Bangladesh economic review and research papers articulate that 33.29 percent of the total population
in Bangladesh falls within the age group of 15-34. Among them 27.38 percent live in the rural areas
and while 5.89 percent in urban areas. Growth in employment opportunities fall behind the growth in
population. In a study it was commented that the labor force grew at a much faster rate than the
growth in population The trend in employment between 2000/2001 and 2009/2010 indicates that
the non-agricultural sectors are the principal engine for creating jobs. The bulk of the employment
generation between 2000/2001 and 2009/2010 took place in the informal sector.
Bangladesh with its existing human resource endowment can propitiate development process.
Entrepreneurship is an imperative to spur this process .Enterprise initiative with virtual qualities can
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accelerate the industrialization process. For this, the youth workforce may be motivated by policy
interventions. This paradox should contain the attributes of enterprise initiative by the youth
workforce (M.M.H. Sarkar, 2012).
Entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as an important means and a valuable additional strategy
to create jobs and improve livelihoods and economic independence of young people. It is an
innovative approach to integrating youth into today’s changing labour markets. Although the crucial
role played by entrepreneurship in driving economic development and job creation is increasingly
understood, there has been little effort to look at it from a youth perspective. Young people are
mostly treated as part of the general adult population, while their specific needs and particular
entrepreneurial potential as well as their critical contribution to economic and social progress are
underestimated(Schoof, Ulrich,2006).
Unfortunately, there is still a general lack of in-depth research and concrete data on youth
entrepreneurship, especially as it relates to different (entrepreneurial) framework conditions and to
the creation of new firms. This study seeks to address this research gap.
2.0 Objectives
The objectives of this study is to obtain a clear and more comprehensive picture of existing barriers
and specific constraints that hinder young people from starting and running a business, and at the
same time, of the incentives and aspirations that make starting a business a viable alternative for
youth and pledge proliferation proponents for their development. Objectives of this article map the
following:
❖ To identify the present scenario of youth unemployment in Bangladesh;
❖ To identify restraints facing the youth entrepreneurs;
❖ To design a development paradigm for them;
❖ To examine, how reducing youth unemployment;
❖ To examine contribution of young entrepreneurs in national economics and
❖ To recommend propositions for acceleration of venture initiatives by the youth entrepreneurs.
3.0 Methodology
According to the objectives of this study, comprehensive desk research was combined with
consultations of young entrepreneurs and close collaboration with the organizations in the area of
youth entrepreneurship. This comprehensive desk research involved a review of relevant
international literature relating to youth entrepreneurship and self-employment, including relevant
texts and journal articles, and other publications. They have also studied the annual report of ILO and
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others international organization’s research papers and articulated the attributes in this paper. They
meticulously conceptualized the essences of the study imperatives.
4.0 Literature Review

“Entrepreneurship and business creation is a growing alternative for young people whose age group
often faces a labor market with double digit unemployment rates.
Traditional career paths and opportunities are disappearing rapidly. A growing number of young
people are taking up challenge of starting their own business and much is being learned about how
the odds for success can be improved through various types of assistance and through the creation of
a supportive environment.” (Juan Somavia, Director General of the ILO).
Entrepreneurship is the recognition of an opportunity to create value, and the process of acting on
this opportunity, whether or not it involves the formation of a new entity. While concepts such as
“innovation” and “risk taking” in particular are usually associated with entrepreneurship, they are not
necessary to define the term.”( FaCS, 2003)
This rather broad definition embraces the potential wider benefits of entrepreneurship as it
encompasses different entrepreneurship types (economic, social and public entrepreneurship as well
as inter-, intrapreneurship and co-operative entrepreneurship) and does not constrain the concept to
the process of commencing a new venture or creating a new entity (Pinchot (1985).
Governments at national and local level need to encourage a broad and dynamic concept of
entrepreneurship to stimulate both personal initiative and initiative in a broad variety of
organizations which include but reach beyond, the private sector: small and large enterprises social
entrepreneurs, cooperatives, the public sector, the trade union movement and youth organizations.”
(UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 2000).
Chigunta (2002) proposes a broad categorization into three (transitional) phases. 1. Pre-entrepreneurs
(in the age of 15-19 years): This is the formative stage. Curtain (2000) observes, for many young
people, the transition from education to work is not a single step of leaving the educational system
and entering the world of work. 2. Budding entrepreneurs (in the age of 20-25 years): This is the
growth stage. 3. Emergent entrepreneurs (in the age of 26-29 years). This is the prime stage.
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Figure 1: Diagnostic framework for young entrepreneurs
High Group A: Enterprise able Group B: Enterprising
Current status – will be an employee or Current status – will be preparing to be self-
student with either business experience or employed, or already is self-employed.
business qualifications. Personal May have business qualifications. Personal
characteristics – likely to have been exposed characteristics – likely to have self-employed
to enterprising role models parents, or prior work experience in the same
and/or had an enterprise education industry and had an enterprise education
experience. Service needs – likely to require experience. Service needs – likely to require
general information and advice about business specialized information and business advice
Readiness
start up. and/or mentoring, and the opportunity to
network with other enterprising young people.
Group C: Pre-enterprise Group D: Enterprise aware
Current status – will be an employee or Current status – will be interested in being
student Personal characteristics – unlikely to self-employed or already be self-employed.
have been exposed to enterprising role models Personal characteristics – likely to have self-
and/or had an enterprise education employed parents, prior work experience
experience. Service needs – likely to require and/or had an enterprise education
exposure to information about being experience. May already have a business idea.
enterprising and what it takes to start a Service needs – likely to require skill
business. development and information and advice
about business start-up or management.
Low High
Source: Lewis and Massey (2003), p. 10
In a study (Sarker, 2008) it was exposed that youth entrepreneurs are the best managers to
accumulate and utilize social resources. Another presentation (Monjuara, pers. com. 2008) articulates
that youth are now a little bit organized. Trade bodies, at present, integrate the issues of this section
and place recommendations for inclusion into policy paradigm.
5.0 Youth Entrepreneurship and Economic growth

Evidence shows that when jobs are scarce, especially young persons are generally more likely to be
unemployed. In the current economic crisis young people are the first to be laid off (last-in first-out).
This had lead to millions of laid off young workers returning to rural areas where the prospects for
securing alternative work are dire. Compared to adults, the youth of today are almost three times as
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likely to be unemployed and globally one in five working youth continues to live in extreme poverty
on 1US$/day level(ILO, 2008)
Many young people are therefore simply pushed into self-employment becoming “entrepreneurs by
necessity” rather than “entrepreneurs by choice”. Many struggle in the informal economy with few
acquired entrepreneurial skills, little, if any, knowledge about what it takes to run a business and with
little or no access to affordable finance or business development services. The promotion of more
effective youth entrepreneurship policies and strategies is therefore getting increased attention
among governments and international organizations and there is a growing recognition that
responsible youth entrepreneurship must be at the heart of tackling global environmental, economic
and employment challenges.
The ILO has a clear and unique mandate to improve the business environment for sustainable
enterprise (ILC, 2007, 2008). Enterprises are the principal source of economic growth and
employment creation and are at the heart of economic activity and development in nearly all
countries. Business owners, managers and workers combine their skills and resources to produce
enterprises that are able to compete effectively in local, national and international markets. It is
within this context that the ILO’s primary goal of promoting “opportunities for women and men to
obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity” is
recognized (ILC, 1999)
Youth entrepreneurship falls within this global mandate and is a strategic component of the ILO’s
Youth Employment Program (YEP) as well as of the global Youth Employment Network (YEN) in
which the World Bank, UNDP and the ILO are partnering with governments across the world,
experiences gained by the ILO over the past 10 years has identified various constraints and barriers
to youth entrepreneurship. Typical challenges are lack of an enterprise culture in many countries;
unfavorable legal, policy and regulatory frameworks for youth entrepreneurship; the lack of
entrepreneurship education across formal and informal educational systems; the lack of access to
affordable financing in the form of start-up, investment or working capital, and; little knowledge
about and access to relevant business development services and support schemes for youth already in
business or for those or interested in pursuing an entrepreneurial career (Schoof 2006 ; Nafukho
1998 ; Nasser 2003 ; Weeratunge 2007 ; Blokker and Dallago 2008 ; Greene 2005, Blanchflower and
Oswald 1999, Llisterri et al. 2006; Owualah 1999; James-Wilson and Hall 2006; Haftendorn, and
Salzano 2003/4 ; Audretsch 2002.).
With a short look at principal labor market indicators for youth, it becomes clear that the need for
employment creation efforts focusing on young people is necessary (ILO, 2006)
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❖ Globally, less than half of the youth available for work had jobs in 2004.
❖ Global labor force participation rates for young people decreased by almost four percentage
points as a whole between 1993 and 2003, mainly the result of an increasing number of
young people attending school, staying longer in education and training, and withdrawing
from or never entering the labor force.
❖ The youth unemployment rate is increasing in many regions and is persistently high
throughout the world. In 2003, the youth unemployment rate reached the historical peak of
14.4 per cent, 88 million young people or 47 per cent of the global unemployed without a job.
❖ Youth unemployment rates are higher than adult unemployment rates in all regions of the
world. In every country for which ILO data is available, youth unemployment rates
significantly exceed adult unemployment rates. The world youth to adult unemployment ratio
was 3.5 in 2003.
❖ In 2015, approximately 660 million young people will either be working or looking for work
– an increase of 7.5 per cent over the 2003 figure.
Within the framework of potential efforts and strategies to boost employment and job creation for
young people, entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as an important means and a useful
alternative for income generation in young people. As traditional job-for-life career paths become
rarer, youth entrepreneurship is regarded as an additional way of integrating youth into the labor
market and overcoming poverty. Supporting this shift in policy is the fact that in the last decade,
most new formal employment has been created in small enterprises or as self-employment. Given
global demographic trends, it is important that the social and economic contributions of young
entrepreneurs are recognized. Entrepreneurship can unleash the economic potential of young people.
Chigunta (2002) sums up a number of reasons for the importance of promoting youth
entrepreneurship: o Creating employment opportunities for self-employed youth as well as the other
young people they employ;
❖ Bringing alienated and marginalized youth back into the economic mainstream and giving
them a sense of meaning and belonging;
❖ Helping address some of the socio-psychological problems and delinquency that arises from
joblessness;
❖ Helping youth develop new skills and experiences that can then be applied to other
challenges in life;
❖ Promoting innovation and resilience in youth;
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❖ Promoting the revitalization of the local community by providing valuable goods and
services;
❖ Capitalizing on the fact that young entrepreneurs may be particularly responsive to new
economic opportunities and trends.
Entrepreneurship and self-employment can be a source of new jobs and economic dynamism in
developed countries, and can improve youth livelihoods and economic independence in developing
countries. For young people in the informal economy, micro entrepreneurism is a bottom-up method
for generating an income, self-reliance and a new innovative path to earning a living and caring for
oneself.
Chigunta (2002) sums up a number of reasons for the importance of promoting youth
entrepreneurship:
❖ Creating employment opportunities for self-employed youth as well as the other young
people they employ;
❖ Bringing alienated and marginalized youth back into the economic mainstream and giving
them a sense of meaning and belonging;
❖ Helping address some of the socio-psychological problems and delinquency that arises from
joblessness;
❖ Helping youth develop new skills and experiences that can then be applied to other
challenges in life;
❖ Promoting innovation and resilience in youth;
❖ Promoting the revitalization of the local community by providing valuable goods and
services;
❖ Capitalizing on the fact that young entrepreneurs may be particularly responsive to new
economic opportunities and trends.
Entrepreneurship and self-employment can be a source of new jobs and economic dynamism in
developed countries, and can improve youth livelihoods and economic independence in developing
countries. For young people in the informal economy, micro entrepreneurism is a bottom-up method
for generating an income, self-reliance and a new innovative path to earning a living and caring for
oneself (Maxwel, 2002).
6.0 Discussions
Entrepreneurial quality is an imperative to augment development process. This pertinent element is

viewed as the basic potent of industrialization. We know, venture initiatives need entrepreneurship
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and affiliation of resources. These proponents should be integrated towards the industrialization
process. In the focus group discussions, youth entrepreneurs expressed the following views:
 Social resources should be directed towards the industrialization process. For this social
attitude and mind set should be changed;
 Underprivileged youth entrepreneurs needs community support;
 Individual family commitment should be awarded for enterprise initiative.
Ingredients of ventures initiatives have inherent relations with development interventions.

Participants in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) viewed the following factors impeding youth
entrepreneurship development:
 Financial resource as floatation fund;

 Marketability of output/ service;
 Competition risk;
 Sustainability of production option, etc.
Enterprise culture, values and norms(meta level)
Macro level Meso level Micro level
National Youth Policies and Entrepreneurship education Stimulating demand for
Action Plans for in-school youth entrepreneurship among
young peoples
Youth Business climate surveys Business start-up & Provide information on
and business regulatory reforms improvement programs access to business support
services
Promotion of successful young Women’s Support to young
entrepreneurs as role entrepreneurship entrepreneur associations
Models and cooperatives
Entrepreneurship culture Market diagnostics and Facilitating business

Campaigns sector analysis linkages and access to
mentorships
Business idea competitions Establishment of finance Establishment of youth
for young entrepreneurs Schemes funds to finance innovative
projects
Figure: Examples of Youth Entrepreneurship Policy & Programme Mix
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7.0 Findings
The contexts of income generation issues have a causal relation with entrepreneurship development
and enterprise creation. This urges for strong bonding of social, political, and economic cooperation.
A recent inventory by BSCIC/Ministry of Industries indicates that up to June 2010, there were 0.77
hundred thousand small industries and 6.30 hundred thousand cottage industries in Bangladesh.
About 70 percent of these enterprises are run by the youth entrepreneurs. Among them youth
entrepreneurs in urban areas have good financial stand, while 80 percent of youth entrepreneurs in
rural areas are underprivileged. Participants of FGDs also support this exposition. They outlined the
following intrinsic features of the poor and underprivileged youth entrepreneurs:
 Poor and underprivileged are isolated and disadvantaged;

 They believe in fate and luck;
 They remain out of employment opportunities and have no savings;
 They are out of supporting niches of the NGOs;
 Extreme poor standing keep them away from help lines;
 Their household income is unstable and insufficient to meet basic needs;
8.0Challenges
Although the challenge of youth employment in the developing world like Bangladesh is linked to a
complex interaction of economic, social and demographic factors, its recent prominence on the
global agenda is clearly associated with the explosive growth in both the number and share of youth
in the population in recent decades in much of the developing world – a phenomenon that has
increasingly. There is little doubt that a necessary condition for addressing the youth employment
challenge is to foster a dynamic economic environment in which economies can thrive and economic
growth can lead to continuous growth in labor demand. While this depends in part on the overall
health of the global economy and the external economic environment that countries are facing, it also
depends on the pursuit of sound economic policies, what the World Development Report 2013 calls
“the fundamentals.” What these fundamentals consist of is fairly predictable: macroeconomic
stability, good governance and the rule of law, respect for rights, a healthy investment climate and
sound investments in human capital, including education and health We present a range of key
challenges young people face, when starting and running a business. At the same time, we introduce
potential incentives, measures and tools to improve this situation. We take a particular look at five
factors, having a major influence on youth entrepreneurship.
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• Social/Cultural attitude towards youth entrepreneurship;
• Entrepreneurship education;
• Access to finance/start-up financing;
• Administrative and regulatory framework; and
• Business assistance and support.
Though the five key-influencing factors are common to all countries, there are national or regional
variations when it comes to assess the most significant barriers and subsequent interventions within
these five fields. What might be a major hindrance at first sight can – after subsequent research –
turn out to be less important than expected. In this regard, the real significance of the most frequently
cited obstacle to entrepreneurial engagement, a lack of access to adequate finance, has to be re-
evaluated.
 Financial Institutions sometimes adopt negative attitudes towards the poor youth entrepreneurs due
to high default risks;
 Skill development is not the priority interventions of the cooperating agencies. Policy strategy of
economic emancipation of the underprivileged youth entrepreneurs is impeded by negligence of skill
development training;
 Most credit programs for the poor entrepreneurs are over-concerned with the repayment issue. In fact,
the success of a program is judged by its repayment performance. This tends the supporting agencies
to emphasis on recovery of credit not on utilization or giving less emphasis in IGAs;
 There is a observation that poor entrepreneurs are often dependent on subsistence farming as their
main source of livelihood. Given the high risks of agricultural activities and the unique requirements
of financing such activities (payback of loans, for instance, can only take place after the production
period, which often lasts several months), the supporting agencies usually shy to lend them.
9.0 Issues and policy Support

Every human being has the attributes like-initiatives, creativity, hard working and aspiration for
achievement. Youth entrepreneurs also possess these attributes. This state of the youth
entrepreneurship may be directed to income generating activities (IGAs) by applying the following
proposition of 3-stage cycle of entrepreneurship development consisting of stimulatory, support and
sustenance (M.M.H.Sarker-2012):
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Stage 1: Stimulatory
• Entrepreneurial education;
• Advocacy of income earning opportunities;
• Identification of potential hard core poor ;
• Evolve locally suitable income generating activities;
• Motivation to involve them in income generating activities;
• Help and guidance in selecting the income generating activities.
Stage 2: Support
• Arranging finance;
• Providing information about best IGAs;
• Guidance for selecting and obtaining machinery;
• Offering management consultancy;
• Help marketing product.
Stage 3: Sustaining
• Helping diversification/expansion of the existing income generating activities;
• Additional financing if required;
• Deferring repayment/interest;
• Product reservation /creating new avenues for marketing if involving manufacturing.
Micro finance strongly supports young entrepreneurs. The potent of micro finance is featured by the
following proponents;
 Financial need is met almost in time of need;
 Employment opportunities are created;
 New income generating activities are sourced out;
 Savings is encouraged. Publications. In our country, Micro Finance Institution (MFIs) have
aim to reach the poor entrepreneurs, but apparently they rare serve them. Most of them reach
the “well off group” in much greater numbers than the “poor entrepreneurs”. The extent to
which micro finance program are able to reach the the poor entrepreneurs remains an open
debate. This may be due to the fact that the underprivileged youth entrepreneurs might be
unable to repay their loans which will thus jeopardize the creditworthiness of the entire trade
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10.0Youth entrepreneurship support initiatives
This section sets out our framework for recommended entrepreneurship interventions, the parameters
and types of interventions considered in our analysis, as well as the list of potential youth
entrepreneurship support interventions used in developing the toolkit for each context scenario.
a. Framework for entrepreneurship support interventions: by implementing interventions that
address the particular binding constraints in a context, the impact of youth entrepreneurship support
initiatives can be maximized
b. Recommended interventions to support youth entrepreneurship:
For policy makers these focus on priority areas for reform and for program decision makers on
priority areas for intervention.
c. Market size and Growth policies:
• Investment climate reforms
• Trade promotion activities, e.g. trade fairs and exhibitions
• Market analysis
• Raising awareness of existing market opportunities, especially for necessity driven
entrepreneurs
• Assistance in evaluating feasibility of business plans, Promotion of business integration and
business linkages including opportunities in international supply chains, especially for
opportunity driven and growth oriented entrepreneur
• Trade fairs and exhibitions, especially for opportunity driven and growth oriented
entrepreneurs
d. Internal market openness
• Develop and facilitate competition policy
• Lobby for more open competition
e. Cultural support
• Implement visible entrepreneurship policy and support programs
• Promote role models and visible success stories
• Implement PR-campaigns, competitions and awards
• Secure media support and coverage
• Develop entrepreneurs’ networks
f. Infrastructure and Invest in infrastructure
• Cluster development programmesMaximising impact of youth entrepreneurship support in
different contexts - Background report, framework and toolkit for consultation
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• Cluster development policy Shared workspaces and start-up factories
g. Investor protection
• Build legal and regulatory framework to enhance investor protection
• Promote transparency and facilitate better investor protection by providing training on
accountancy standards etc. especially for growth oriented entrepreneurs.
h. Finance and Financial sector development reforms
• Policies to promote access to finance
• Improving the regulatory environment for start-up finance, e.g.
• transparent rating procedures and risk assessment
• shortening and simplification of document procedures
• improved cooperation and code of conduct,
• verifying and differentiating of lending criteria
I Develop public capital markets
Provide start-up and business capital, e.g.:o provision of grants and ‘free money’, especially for
necessity driven entrepreneurs
• facilitating debt financing for young people, especially opportunity driven and growth
oriented entrepreneurs
• provision of soft-, micro and guaranteed loans, e.g. microfinance, especially for necessity
driven entrepreneurs
• loan guarantee schemes, especially for opportunity driven entrepreneurs
• risk venture capital for young enterprises, especially for opportunity driven and growth
• fostering equity finance possibilities for youth, especially for opportunity driven and growth
• angel investors and network, especially for opportunity driven and growth oriented
entrepreneurs
j. Government program
• Introduce or improve entrepreneurship support initiatives, engaging local service providers or
NGOs operating on the ground as appropriate
• Assist government in developing policy
• Implement entrepreneurship surveys and share findings to inform policy development.
Professional and commercial infrastructure
• Foster institutional development
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• Develop legal and regulatory framework for professional and commercial services
• Support the development of the market for professional and commercial services and provide
these in underserved areas
k. Higher education and training
• Invest in higher education and training programmes
• Offer on the job training and workshops
• Facilitate apprenticeship schemes
Local availability of research and training services
• Fund research and training services or promote market for these.
• Provide research and training services in underserved areas, or help to develop the marthese
services, especially for growth oriented entrepreneursEntrepreneurship education and primary
and secondary level
• Introduce entrepreneurship education
1 programs into national curricula
• Raise awareness of entrepreneurship in schools though media and participatory approaches
Entrepreneurship education at postsecondary level
• Introduce entrepreneurship education
Programs at colleges and universities
• Collaborate with universities and colleges to introduce entrepreneurship training, mentoring
support and business coaching
Technological readiness
• Invest in internet infrastructure Offer access to internet cafes, IT clinics and IT training
courses
11.0 Recommendations
Youth entrepreneurs need two-pronged strategic supports – entrepreneurship development and
enterprise creation. Suitable financial product will be an input to support their enterprise initiative
and with this entrepreneurship development training should be embedded. Besides, the following
proponents may take in consideration:
• The central bank should fix up a target for each bank to finance youth entrepreneurs;
• Separate bank or banks may be establish for youth entrepreneurs;
• A comprehansive credit policy should be initiated under the direct supervision of the central
bank in order to create access of youth to finance. The policy should containt a provision of
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collateral free loan, credit without interest or low rate of interest, loan for long time duration,
etc.
• Gender cell may be esablished to facilitate the female youth entrepreneurs;
• Awareness of business opportunities and support services offered by various agencies should
be targeted towards youth entrepreneurs.
Finally, some general guidelines and suggestions on the development and delivery of youth
entrepreneurship policy are given: ƒ every country has to develop an individual, tailor-made
policy approach. An individual policy mix of (integrated) initiatives that responds to different
economic, social and cultural situations as well as to particular entrepreneurial framework
conditions is required.
Investment in research, benchmarking, testing and evaluation is particularly crucial in this area.
YE interventions need to balance speed with scale of impact and cost of implementation. The
manifold interventions and tools to promote YE differ highly in terms of their cost-benefit ratio and
their potential impact.
The promotion of enterprise education has to be at the heart of any YE policy. Identifying and
addressing deficiencies in this area should be a key task for every government and country.
The mobilization and engagement of all major stakeholders is highly recommended. This includes
(ILO, 2004,. Lundström; Stevenson, 2002. White; Kenyon, 2001).
• The public sector (governments at national, regional or local/municipal level);

• The private sector (entrepreneurs, banks, investors, small and large companies, trade
associations and unions);
• The non-profit sector (NGOs, IOs, youth associations, YE-clubs and networks,
universities, private foundations and think tanks);
• Other stakeholders (public/private media, donor agencies, etc.).
Recommendations also portrayed youth as a creative force for the presents well as the future. Care
was taken to avoid referring to young people as “tomorrow’s” leaders; the focus was instead on their
role as today’s partners. “Young people are now asking that their voices be heard, that issues
affecting them be addressed and that their roles be recognized. Rather than being viewed as a target
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group for which employment must be found, they want to be accepted as partners for development,
helping to chart a common course and shaping the future for everyone (40)
Finally, the Panel devised a simple political message that may be summarily expressed in terms of
the following four principles:
• Employability. Invest in education and vocational training for young people and improve the
impact of those investments.
• Equal opportunities. Give young women the same opportunities asyoung men.
• Entrepreneurship. Make it easier to start and run enterprises in orderto provide more and better jobs
for young women and young men.
12.0Conclusions
It became a commitment of the Millennium Declaration adopted by the Heads of State in a situation
where reducing youth unemployment becomes one of the most difficult challenges for the future. To
provide valuable advice to governments, the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan created the
Youth Employment Network (YEN) together with the World Bank and the ILO which also functions
as Secretariat for the network. Bangladesh. A contexts of income generation issue have a relation
with entrepreneurship development and enterprise creation. This urges for social, political, and
economic cooperation. In, youth entrepreneurs are constrained by socio-political and economic
impediments. For this social capital and policy interventions should interact to support
entrepreneurship development and enterprise creation
To have a lasting impact, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship should be approached

comprehensively, emphasizing sectors with job creation potential and integrating the three
components of sustainable enterprises – social, economic and environmental.
Human progress and sustainable economic development depend on new ideas and the ability of
young and future entrepreneurs to implement these ideas. The only means to bring about sustainable
development is through investments in the creativity, innovation and problem solving skills of youth.
211
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214

Youth Entrepreneurshipasa Road Showof Reducing Youth Unemploymentand Sustainable Economic Growth Challenges Issuesandpolicy Supportin Bangladesh

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Indian Journal of Development Research and Social Action (ISSN: 0973-3116)

Volume 10, N0.1-2, January-December 2014, Page195-214

Youth Entrepreneurship as a Road Show of Reducing Youth

Key Points: Youth entrepreneurship, Unemployment, Scrupulously, Meticulous, ILO,

4.0 Literature Review

5.0 Youth Entrepreneurship and Economic growth

Entrepreneurial quality is an imperative to augment development process. This pertinent element is

Ingredients of ventures initiatives have inherent relations with development interventions.

 Financial resource as floatation fund;

Entrepreneurship culture Market diagnostics and Facilitating business

Figure: Examples of Youth Entrepreneurship Policy & Programme Mix

 Poor and underprivileged are isolated and disadvantaged;

9.0 Issues and policy Support

• The public sector (governments at national, regional or local/municipal level);

To have a lasting impact, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship should be approached

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