ISLAMABAD: The Young Entrepreneurs Forum (YEF) of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit in youth.
Faculty members and a large number of students of various universities including Quaid-e-Azam, Air, Federal Urdu, COMSATS and FAST University attended the event. The event discussed two themes i.e. “IT Business Prospects for Startups” and “Women in Business”. Ali Hisham Malik, CEO of Arkhitech and Ms. Zeenat Ayesha, CEO, Pappasalis highlighted the potential of business for youth including females in IT and other fields. Global Entrepreneurship Week is celebrated all over the world every year from November 16-22 to encourage entrepreneurship culture in youth.
Speaking at the occasion, Atif Ikram Sheikh, president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan was a country of young population, but millions of youngsters were finding difficulties in getting jobs. He said our youth was endowed with great potential and innovative ideas to undertake successful business startups, however, due to lack of supportive environment, they were unable to exploit their talent for economic development of the country. He urged upon the government to take policy measures for creating a conducive environment for entrepreneurial activities for youth so that maximum number of youngsters could be motivated to start their own businesses and become job creators instead of job seekers.
Shaban Khalid, chairman, Young Entrepreneurs Forum of ICCI said that Pakistan has the potential to turn youth bulge into a great dividend for the country by creating enabling environment for business activities. He said engaging youth in business activities was the best option to overcome unemployment problems and stressed that government should take required measures to enable our youth to unleash its potential in entrepreneurial field. This way they could take the country to higher levels of economic growth.
The students showed great interest in entrepreneurship, however, they highlighted various problems being faced in launching startup businesses including lack of capital, strict collateral and other conditions of bank financing, absence of supportive environment, complicated business registration processes etc. as major hurdles in such pursuits. They said if government address these issues, youth could excel in business field. Businessmen shared their exciting success stories with the students and enticed them towards entrepreneurship them offered them great prospects for prosperous future.
