What If We Invest More in Youth Entrepreneurship?

Namibia has and still is enjoying 29 years of peace and stability, however, the rise of unemployed youth keeps intensifying, which has the potential to cause threats to the prevailing peace and stability in the country.

In general, unemployment has a significant impact on poverty and homelessness affects family unity. In addition, it causes desperation and other social evils such as crime, violence, prostitution and alcoholism (Mwinga, 2013).

According to Nakashole (2015), “Namibia is the third worst country in sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to youth entrepreneurship”, with just 33% of young people in the country starting or running their own businesses.

One strategy to conclude here is that if the government or investors invest in youth entrepreneurship, it leads to more creative and innovative people who will soon be job creators for the less fortunate, who may still get mentorship from the creators and even start their own businesses in the future. Furthermore, promotion of entrepreneurship is a vital component of regional economic development (William, 2012).

Promotion of youth entrepreneurship can also directly impact young business-starters themselves, while spreading positive employment impacts among their peers and their communities.

In addition, even those workers or people who were not destined to start their own businesses will acquire a deeper understanding of what it takes to make a business succeed.

On the other hand, the youth will have more to offer in the workplace if entrepreneurial training could provide them with greater financial and business literacy, as many individuals who are not yet ready to launch their own business right after school may be inspired by this training to see the sights of entrepreneurship opportunities later in their careers, based on the additional skills assimilated in their jobs.

Peter Shikalepo is an avid writer. Email him at petershikalepo@gmail.com.

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