Youths and entrepreneurship

An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business venture and assumes much of the associated risk.  It is no more news that there are more unemployed Nigerian youths compared to their employed counterparts. This arguably, is as a result of the lackadaisical approach and uncaring attitude of the youths towards entrepreneurship. Many […]

An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business venture and assumes much of the associated risk. 

It is no more news that there are more unemployed Nigerian youths compared to their employed counterparts. This arguably, is as a result of the lackadaisical approach and uncaring attitude of the youths towards entrepreneurship. Many youths in the country never plan, equip and develop themselves with entrepreneurial skills which involve having a concept on how to maximize profit from a particular business in other to earn a living from it. In light of this, one could argue that the typical Nigerian youth is either afraid of taking risks or doesn’t care at all, thus would rather stay idle without adding any positive impact to the society. 

What most of us youths fail to understand is that these small enterprises that could be created by us could be avenues for providing jobs to some idle people in the country and thus help reduce the already sky high unemployment rate in the country.

Many undergraduate students in our universities do not desire to start small. There is nothing wrong in starting small, but there is everything wrong in remaining small. Most students after graduation seek to work for renowned organizations and get huge pay cheques. While that is not necessary a bad thing, it can sometimes be far-fetched. It’s high time we have a reality check and as the now familiar saying goes “cut our coats according to our sizes”. We all want to be successful without even having the thought of starting up something for oneself, forgetting the fact that most of the things we wish for cannot be offered to us on a silver platter.

Therefore, it is essential for youths to venture into entrepreneurship in other to have a reasonable source of income after graduation. Even without the government providing one with a job in the labour market, one can at least earn an honest living from the business enterprise that has been created. As a scholar once said “if you are not a risk taker you cannot succeed in life. 

However, the government is not left out in this matter, they should try to encourage those who that have shown interest in entrepreneurship  by setting up a financial institution that will be used to support the youths that are involved. The government can also go an extra-mile of making entrepreneurship courses compulsory for every undergraduate by making the course more practical than theoretical. 

Leonard Onyemechi Ogwezi, IBBU, Lapai, Niger State