Remarks at IOM Youth Business Incubator Awards Ceremony

Salutations: 

• The Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Honourable Davinia Esther Anyakun;

• IOM Chief of Mission, Mr. Sanusi Tejan Savage;

• Representatives of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies;

• Members of the Private Sector;

• Dignitaries from the Embassies present;

• The Youth Entrepreneurs;

• Ladies and Gentlemen.

Warm greetings to all.

On behalf of the United Nations System in Uganda, I am very happy to be here today as we award outstanding youth entrepreneurs.

With a population of  over  70% under the age of thirty (30), with over 700,000 young people entering the job market every year to compete for two hundred thirty-eight thousand (238,000) (34%) available jobs, all stakeholders, government and non-government, must invest in developing an ecosystem that can better support young people to create their own jobs and as such these initiatives are a great contribution to curbing the unemployment challenges. Unemployment in general is catalyst to many other vices including increased crime rates and irregular migration the IOM is striving hard to address.

I would like to applaud the UN Migration Agency for the youth business incubator initiative. Whereas there are many of these initiatives supporting youth, very few of them focus on youth who are about to graduate or recently graduated from tertiary institutions.

Honourable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, the UN through its various agencies focuses on the future generation in all aspects including health, education and livelihoods. All these efforts are geared towards transformation in the lives of the youth. I commend IOM for focusing on entrepreneurship as a means of curbing irregular migration and contributing to the greater good.

While all these efforts are encouraging, there is still so much more that needs to be done to address youth unemployment and irregular migration. This requires scaling up and combining efforts to address the challenge.

To the youth that we are here to celebrate and encourage, I would like to assure you that your future matters deeply to all of us. However, the greater responsibility lies with you to take forward the skills and knowledge you have acquired during the course of your mentorship. To the award  winners, I encourage you to utilize the funds for their intended purpose. To those that did not win, do not loose hope, every stakeholder here is committed to supporting you to realize your dreams.

Honourable Minister I would like to reaffirm the commitment of the UN Family to support the Government of Uganda in its initiatives that promote skilling, entrepreneurship and youth employment. 

As I conclude I would like to once again thank IOM for this initiative and wish the youth all the best in realizing their dreams. 

Let’s support them together!