Regional summit on youth entrepreneurship kicks off
KATHMANDU, SEP 20 -
The three-day “Young Entrepreneurs’ Summit-South Asia (YES-SA) 2013” kicked off in Kathmandu on Thursday to share experience and network ideas among the young minds of the region.
Organised under the theme “Bridging Opportunities”, the summit focuses on promoting cross-border learning, networking and strengthening economic and cultural ties among young entrepreneurs and young politicians of the region.
Addressing the inaugural session, Chief Secretary Lila Mani Paudel called on the youth to concentrate on empowering trade and exploit the business potential of the region.
“Since the region has common challenges like illiteracy and unemployment, the summit will help share ideas and find solutions,” Paudel said, adding the government has been working on reforms in policies with focus on foreign direct investment, public private partnership and promoting entrepreneurship.
Participants said the performance of South Asia compared to other regions is still poor despite huge potential and constituting one fifth of the world’ population.
Corruption, political ideologies and bad governance have been affecting entrepreneurship in the region, said Padma Jyoti, immediate Past President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). Jyoti said it’s high time to closely look at areas such as consumer rights, tax, labour management, environment protection and corruption control for entrepreneurship development.
Guests, including Norway’s Ambassador to Nepal Alf Arne Ramslien, former SAARC CCI President Annisul Huq, and SAARC CCI Vice-president Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, also addressed first day of the conference. “Young entrepreneurs are the ‘agent of change’ and they should act together,” said Ramslien.
Participants underlined the need for changing political mindset for bringing change in the region which is one of the least integrated regions of the world.
The first day of the summit included site visits to companies like Standard Chartered Nepal, Hotel Dwarikas’, KIST Bank and F1 Soft International to observe and evaluate the best business practices.
South Asian Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum President Saurav Jyoti said the conference would network young entrepreneurs, share experience and learn. He said they were planning to hold a conference of young entrepreneurs in Pakistan in early 2014.
During the three-day summit, young entrepreneurs will share knowledge on entrepreneurial eco-system, global economy, investment potentials in Nepal, cross-border learning and political economy. Nearly 400 youth entrepreneurs from SAARC countries are participating in the summit that will conclude on Saturday.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
