In what a report says is “an aggressive push to up-skill youths” the multinational food and beverage giant, Nestlé Limited, is again pressing its ‘Nestlé Needs Youth’ initiative into service in pursuit of what it says targets more than 10 million youths globally, including the Caribbean, for access to economic opportunities by 2030.
The report names Guyana as being among the countries in the Caribbean that will benefit from the initiative which it says “seeks to equip young people with the skills they need to prepare for the future of work and entrepreneurship.”
Created in 2017 and expanded in 2019, the programme, the report says, “seeks to equip young people with the skills they need to prepare for the future of work and entrepreneurship.”
With regard to the focus of the programme, Chief Executive Officer for the Nestlé Zone Americas, Laurent Freixe, is quoted in the report as saying, “If we make an impact for the youths, if we raise their employability and provide them with opportunities this could be good for communities. If we can integrate the next generation we will be able to embrace and leverage the challenges of the technological evolution and bringing more youths inside of organizations,”
Nestlé’s October 5-6 Caribbean Youth Forum which is being staged in collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Freixe says, seeks to further the objectives of the company’s mission of empowering youths in the region through the creation of programmes that will expand their capacities and competencies. It will, among other things, provide mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities for more than 10,000 youths from the region in areas that include personal branding, personal financial management, and e-commerce for entrepreneurs.
Other companies and organisations in the region are on record as pledging their commitment to creating job opportunities for Caribbean youths over the next three years.
