Dear Editor,
For as long as I can remember, there has always been high youth unemployment in Guyana, but the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) recent report, ‘Youth are the future: The imperative of youth employment for sustainable development in the Caribbean’ has added colour and graphics to that picture. It is reported that Guyana’s youth unemployment hovered around 40% throughout the last decade and a half. Efforts to quantify that mind-blowing statistic have yielded estimates as high as 60,000, which is alarming considering the age category used of 15-24 and our small population.
The duration of 15 years over which unemployment of 40% was recorded is a stark statement on the depth of this problem, a solution for which will require a multi-pronged approach. That report emphasized the point that our youths are marginalized.
It is time agencies functioning in the interest of our youth stop operating in silos and propose a collaborative engagement towards empowering youths. No quick fix will work; call centres are not the solution, but entrepreneurship is an avenue.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project reports a 70% correlation between entrepreneurship and economic growth. Regionally the private sector creates 70% of total employment according to ‘Role of SMEs in the Caribbean,’ by Pamela Coke-Hamilton. Locally SMEs account for 40% of total employment, as stated by the chair of Micro and Small Enterprise Development (MSED), Mr Sukrishnalall Pasha.
Guyana is nowhere close to realizing the potential of its SME sector; we are yet to implement policies geared towards the development of that sector. Our inability to realize the employment-generating and revenue-earning potential of SMEs for the last decade falls squarely at the feet of the Small Business Council (SBC). The 10- year timeline is specific to the SBC since it has been in existence for that period.
The Small Business Act of 2004 (in need of substantial amendment), makes provision for the establishment of the SBC whose primary function is to promote the development of small businesses. The 11-member council began its work in 2005. For some time the council has pointed fingers in various directions for its inability to perform, or to execute its principal function effectively. It is evident that the membership should be revamped in the best interest of SMEs.
The SBC must focus on equitable policies directed towards economic progress to ensure the development of SMEs, in the interest of generating employment. Unquestionably the SBC has the potential to meaningfully contribute to a process that would lead to a reduction in youth unemployment. Are the current SBC members the right fit for the job?
Yours faithfully,
Dennis Mayers
