Government is giving utmost importance to the role of young entrepreneurs in creating a sustainable business model which sets high on its agenda the questions of addressing unemployment, alleviating poverty as well as achieving development and innovation. It is vital for the youth to understand the importance of sustainability in a world which is constantly changing.
The Minister of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, Mr Soomilduth Bholah, made this statement yesterday at the opening of a one-day seminar on Being a leader and entrepreneur in the emerging sustainability economy at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre, Bell Village. He was speaking to some 100 young entrepreneurs on the relevance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the entrepreneurship field.
He highlighted that it is imperative for entrepreneurs to maintain a balance between the economy, environment, and society as well as place sustainability at the core of their businesses. Young entrepreneurs, he pointed out, should be guided to become visionary and solution providers to daily economic and social hassles. He outlined the concept of business with a cause which has as objective to turn challenges into business opportunities.
Minister Bholah emphasised that the word entrepreneur has evolved during the years and has now new definitions with regards to the changing contexts. Speaking of ‘ecopreneurs’, he underlined that entrepreneurs today are combining environmental awareness with their business activities in a drive to shift economic development towards a more environmentally friendly progress. These are commendable business attitudes that should be promoted in entrepreneurs, he underlined.
The Minister underpinned that sustainable entrepreneurship should also aim at promoting gender equality by providing access to skills and training for women to fairly participate in the economy. On this score, he pointed out that young entrepreneurs, as a whole, should work towards an inclusive sustainable growth which caters for economic, social, educational and environmental goals.
Present at the event, the High Commissioner of Australia, Ms Jenny Dee, pointed out that youngsters are the future drivers of economic development hence the need to inculcate SDGs in their mindset. Sustainability, transparency, good governance and innovation are among the key elements that an entrepreneur should possess, she stressed.
She underscored that companies in Mauritius should incorporate SDGs in their business activities in order to amplify the impacts of their investment to the wider society. Australia, she emphasised, will always extend its support to Mauritius by providing training and capacity-building programmes for the successful development of the Mauritian workforce.
The objective of the seminar was to inculcate creativity and innovation among young people and to shed light on the relevance of SDGs. The resource person was Mr Ian Chambers from Australia who is the Director of the Young Persons’ Plan for the Planet Programme and has a career path in global and national corporates. He shared his views on the role of young entrepreneurs and leaders in shaping the socio-economic landscape of Mauritius. He also addressed the need of leveraging UN SDGs and Global Competencies.
Source: Government of Mauritius