For
most developed countries, the youths remain an important focus in areas such as
economic development, sustainability and nation building. When organisations
and the government drive conversations and activities around social
investments, these discourse are usually focused on empowering young people as
they hold the power to drive growth across all levels of the economy both
locally and internationally.
In
a country like The Gambia, almost 60% of the population are under the age of
25. According to a recent World Bank Report some of the key long-term
development challenges facing The Gambia are lack of skills necessary to build
effective institutions, high population growth, and lack of private sector job
creation. There is an existing gap in connecting education, employment and entrepreneurship
within the youths, creating a great layer of social inequality.
Globally,
more than 200 million young people are either unemployed, or they have jobs,
but continue to live in poverty due to low income. This social and economic
inequality is a challenge shared by many countries. Infact, it is estimated
that 1% of the world’s population will own two thirds of its wealth. This level
of inequality stifles growth and creates disharmony. It significantly affects
disadvantaged young people who often can’t access the skills and opportunities
needed to close this income gap.
The
question for us now is how do we build a sustainable development agenda,
spearheaded by young people now and in the future. How do we invest in them and
equip them to learn, earn and grow?
Achieving
a more developed and sustainable society as a nation, calls for youth inclusion
in closing the obvious existing inequality and prosperity gap. Heavy and
consistent investment in the youth through education, employment and
entrepreneurship will contribute greatly to tackling this challenge.
Youths
are often referred to as social actors with the abilities to bring
revolutionary changes and improvement in any society so there is a need to
implement long term strategies to invest in future economies. Active youthful
engagement in the labour market is a necessary prerequisite to generating a
young people pool of resources for both government and private entities.
In
Standard Chartered Bank, we believe that education, employment and entrepreneurship
are three key pillars through which young people can be empowered. We do this
through our Future Makers project, which seeks to tackle the issue of
inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people in our
communities. We encourage young people especially from low income households to
take part in programmes focused on education, employability and
entrepreneurship.
Our
strong ambition is focused on raising USD50 million through fundraising and
Bank-matching between 2019 and 2023 to empower the next generation of young
people. We also realized that the success of some of our existing community
programmes are projective to include expanding our goal to education programme
for girls, incorporating financial education into all of our programmes and
developing new global community programmes in employability and
entrepreneurship.
We
must not also forget the entrepreneurs in our communities, who remain valuable
assets. There is a need to inspire and encourage them to their greatest
potential as they possess what it takes to change the dynamics of how we live
and work. Their innovations may improve standards of living and also create
wealth.
Despite
the strides made in technology, the “gender digital divide” remains a major
concern. There is significant difference in access to technology and financial
services for women owned enterprises than men.
In
The Gambia, female population comprises of 50.4 per cent of the total
population of The Gambia. With fewer income generating opportunities for the population
at large, this leaves over half of the Gambia population constituting women
deprived of economic empowerment through employment, professional growth and
livelihood opportunities. For us at Standard Chartered, this just isn’t good
enough.
Similar
to several emerging markets like Pakistan and Brazil, The Gambia is currently
passing through a demographic transition, which has resulted in an increase in
the working-age population i.e. youths comprising over half of the population,
as a share of the total population.
To
reap the ‘demographic dividend’ of this change, the economy needs to provide
education and create productive and remunerative employment for young workforce
entrants. Moreover, innovation through digitisation and entrepreneurship is a crucial
and workable element in human capital development.
The
bank has recently launched the Women in Tech Incubator programme (WiT) to help
close this divide. WiT Tech targets female-led entrepreneurial teams and we
provide them with training, mentorship and seed funding. The incubators
includes mentorship with the Bank’s own staff, connecting Women in Tech to
other prominent brands like Google and Apple, and providing a platform for them
to engage with experts so they could learn how to grow their business. The
programme creates tangible and measurable impact to ensure that female
entrepreneurs have the right opportunities to grow and nurture their business.
We
are optimistic about the impact this programme will have on the socio-economic
empowerment of female led entrepreneurs in The Gambia. The support the
beneficiaries will get will go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of the
businesses while creating employment for more women and youths in the country.
This initiative builds on the Bank’s track record of increasing women’s access
to entrepreneurial finance, employability and supporting adolescent girls and
women through financing and capacity building.
From
our standpoint, the development and sustenance of a good economy in any nation
is dependent on the level of quality education, employment and entrepreneurship
opportunities especially available to young people.
Conscious
steps must be taken towards equipping the youth regardless of class and
economic status, with access to opportunities needed to realize their full
potential to foster greater economic inclusion.
(Mustapha
John is the Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing Standard Chartered
Bank, Gambia)
