By Neo Kolane
The World Bank Group says that there is need to strengthen the policy on youth entrepreneurship on ecosystem
In its June 2021 report on unlocking the potential of Basotho youth the groups said there was a need to strengthen the policy, regulatory and institutional environment that would improve access to early stage finance and new markets.
There is strong need for new enterprises with a strong social and environmental orientation in Lesotho. Youth enterprises can fulfil this need and Lesotho can be a pacesetter in this regard.
According to the Lesotho National Youth Policy 2017-2020 entrepreneurship is a key driver towards the structural economic transformation envisioned in the National Strategic Development Plan.
The policy has the potential to create millions of jobs and generate innovations in fields such as technology, agriculture, and transportation. It is a vehicle for economic and social empowerment of African women and youth.
The policy states that in order to achieve these aims, action is required from all stakeholders, particularly through innovative partnerships between African stakeholders and development partners, as called for in both the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.
The youth and women employment promotion project document of 2014-2017, observes that emphasis should be put on strengthening the capacity of universities to offer educational programmes for entrepreneurs that suit the social needs and domesticate the implementation of both agendas, thus becoming long-term drivers of change.
Speaking with theReporter, general secretary of #Bachashutdown, Tumelo Leboto said the minister of gender, youth, sports and recreation has told them that the ministry was running on a zero percent budget.
He claimed that the ministry was doing nothing for the development of the youth as it is claiming.
#BachaShutdown is a movement established by some youth in Lesotho with an aim of holding the government accountable. It forges to work towards improving their lives as citizens.
Leboto said another proof that there is a gap that needs to be bridged is that the ministry of youth sport and recreation should have vocational and technical training tools.
He was aware of a land allocated for agriculture in Mahobong and Likhetlane where fruits are produced in abundance on 34 hectares of land.
“The World Bank and the private sector is willing to invest to upgrade entrepreneurship in Lesotho and production of agricultural where we might get 154 hectares for horticulture.
“With the 1.4 billion from the World Bank we can close the gap of entrepreneurship and establish some businesses that can thrive when well funded.
“There are no resources but there are youth centres which are not operational except the one in Butha-Buthe, which is a building where people sell their products. There is a wide gap that needs to be bridged.
“When it comes to building an entrepreneurial culture, developing skills and a talent pipeline, there is a gap that needs to be closed,” Leboto said.
Leboto considered that there was limited coaching and mentoring, limited access to regional resources, low digital literacy as well as a low adoption of an integrated
skills approach encompassing business in networking and finance
According to a definition that has been adopted by a ILO SEED (Small Enterprise Development Programme Job Creation and Enterprise Development Department) in its 76 working paper says entrepreneurship is the recognition of an opportunity to create value, and the process of acting on this opportunity, whether or not it involving the formation of a new entity. While concepts such as “innovation” and “risk taking” in particular are usually associated with entrepreneurship.
It observed that there were three types of entrepreneurs in Lesotho.
In pre-entrepreneurs (in the age of 15-19 years) is the formative stage. These youth are often in transition from the security of the home or education to the work place.
Budding entrepreneurs (in the age of 20-25 years) is regarded as the growth stage. These youth are likely to have gained some experience, skills and capital to enable them run their own enterprises. They often face three enterprise pathways of remaining stuck in marginal activities, going out of business and running successful enterprises.
Emergent entrepreneurs in the age of 26-29 years, is considered as the prime stage. With valuable experiences in business, emergent entrepreneurs have a higher level of maturity than youth in the lower age groups. Hence they are more likely to run more viable enterprises than younger people
