The Hindu Business Line : Encouraging enterprise

Having successfully launched the entrepreneurial ventures of several youngsters in India, the Bharati Yuva Shakti Trust is now engaged in helping other developing countries from Asia and Africa replicate its successful model.

Whether it is rearing lovebirds, baking bread and cakes, opening beauty saloons or weaving fabric, Asian and African youth entrepreneur promotion organisations are finding that they have a lot in common and can learn from each other.

Recently, similar organisations from several countries were in Delhi on a training programme with the Bharati Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), the oldest Asian entity in the game. Their intention was to take back to their countries the best practices in entrepreneurship development and leadership that the BYST has learnt and established in the past decade. In fact, some of the countries will soon be joining the Asian Centre of Excellence being initiated by the BYST.

Apart from formal training, the group made up of countries such as Philippines, Kenya and Nepal was meeting up with successful entrepreneurs and committed mentors - the sections that form the backbone of the programme.

The BYST has been able to support 1,000-youth entrepreneur ventures, both urban and rural. In turn, the entrepreneurs have been able to generate employment for over 4,000 people, with five per cent of its high achievers becoming millionaires, clocking a total turnover of Rs 205 million. The organisation has also produced its first crorepati entrepreneur, who manufactures corrugated boxes for the pharmaceutical, electronics and garment industry.

At present, the BYST is aiding other developing countries with their entrepreneurship development programmes, having more to offer as a developing country that has successfully grappled with the problems of entrepreneurs than a developed country would. "Entrepreneurship development in Britain and the rest of Europe needs very different skills. The challenges developing nations face in terms of the mind-boggling statistics of unemployment and the culture-specific differences need customised solutions," explains Lakshmi Venkatesan, Founding Trustee and Executive Vice-President, BYST.

And that is exactly what Asian/African organisations have come here to pick up. Wamuyu Mahinda, General Manager, Kenya Youth Business Trust (KYBT), whose organisation was launched last year and has been supporting entrepreneurs in service sector vocations such as the saloon business, telephone service, video coverage, electrical repairs, weaving, grocery, garbage collection and stockists, finds that her exposure to the Indian programme has made her aware of the areas where the KYBT was lacking. "We need to redo our strategies in the areas of induction of mentors, orientation of clients and mentor training. I plan to go back and do it again," she says, adding that at the client whetting stage too a lot of changes would need to be made.

Kenya's current pilot project will come to an end in September and a lot needs to be done as the country has an under-35 years population of 78 per cent and an unemployment rate of 40 per cent in the formal sector. However, the fact that it has a National Youth Policy where the job creation issue is being taken seriously is going to be of great help to the KYBT in terms of funds as well as encouragement.

Nepal's organisation too is at a fledgling stage, with the youth wing of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) taking the lead and launching an entrepreneur promotion programme by September-October this year.

"The ongoing training has made me realise that we are already making mistakes which we need to correct. We are in the process of meeting partners and trustees and now realise that we need to have mentors who are entrepreneurs themselves, and not from corporate companies. We've also realised that everything depends on the will to succeed and how the programme is marketed. For instance, trading would have been the natural choice as an entrepreneur vocation to fund. But we learn that funding trading businesses without value addition is an absolute `no-no' as it brings in more defaulters," says Saurabh Jyoti, the first Vice-President of the Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs Forum (NYEF) who is here with another two working members of the Nepalese Youth Business Initiative, as the project is proposed to be called.

With 74 per cent of the population under 35 years and a formal sector unemployment rate of 47 per cent, in Nepal three lakh educated and trained youth compete for the job market every year, while there is scope only for one lakh jobs.

Philippines is no better. Its under-35 years population is 72 per cent, with a formal sector unemployment rate of 37 per cent. However, the Philippine Youth Business Foundation (PYBF) that started its pilot project in 2001, has found that some of the businesses chosen by its clients had limited ability to grow, hence they have shifted to other areas of business. For instance, one of the entrepreneurs who started a quill farm was soon in trouble, but thanks to a good mentor he has shifted to breeding lovebirds, and hopes to do better.

The Philippine experience too has been that its better to keep away from trading without value addition — for instance buying and selling vegetables or grocery really does not hone entrepreneurial skills.

However, some interesting businesses picked up by PYBF clients include small restaurants, bakeries, acupressure services, ice cream and dim sum selling.

"During my trip to India I have found that mentors here have what is lacking in our programme — the heart," says Executive Director of the PYBF, John Walter S. Baybay. He explains that in their programme a lot of mentoring is being done by corporate volunteers under corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes.

However, this makes mentoring a very agenda-based activity without the mentor being committed to the entire project. "I now realise that we need people from small and medium enterprises as mentors, for they are more cross functional and have learnt the ropes from experience." he says.

Mentoring is one of the most important aspects of entrepreneur promotion, as Lakshmi has realised over the years. In fact, she has found that even after clients fulfil their monetary obligations to the BYST and no longer require a mentor, they continue a mentor relationship voluntarily.

And as Asia and Africa, along with India, move towards entrepreneur promotion, they hope that each drop in the job creation ocean helps reduce the startling unemployment numbers in each of the countries through self-employment.

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