Fostering Entrepreneurial Youth

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Why we need entrepreneurship for development

The majority of people in many developing countries live in an agrarian, often subsistence economy. Many

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young people grow up without opportunities to learn entrepreneurial and industrial attitudes and skills. Poverty with persistent unemployment and underemployment is the result.

Entrepreneurs trigger and drive a nationwide process that enables the bottom billion to climb up the wealth ladder, transforms economies and enhances industrial development. It is the result of the entrepreneurs’ assessment of business opportunities and calculated courage.

The business environment affects the calculations and decisions of entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur may select a business with quick turnover when the prospects are uncertain and short. If she is confident of the environment, she may commit more resources for a longer period.

About the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP)

UNIDO supports the development of entrepreneurial culture and skills, and technical and learning capability, through the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP) and by improving the performance of public services for businesses to create an environment where entrepreneurial actions are rewarded.

The Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP) is a cost-effective investment in the development of entrepreneurial capacity of young people. ECP is inclusive since it reaches out to both girls and boys in rural and urban areas. It lays the ground for private sector development.

Entrepreneurship is introduced as a subject in general secondary schools or technical and vocational schools on a nationwide basis. Universities and colleges serve as centres of excellence to support national efforts to promote entrepreneurship and technology absorbing capacities.

Young people acquire personal qualities such as the ability to take initiatives, innovation and creativity, willingness to take calculated risks, self-confidence, to collaborate, etc. They learn to save, invest and grow. They enhance their technical thinking and learning capability. These competencies help them select and shape their career path, as employees or entrepreneurs.

So far, a million young people have studied entrepreneurship in UNIDO-assisted countries. This brochure contains case studies from Angola, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda and Uganda.

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