The Africa head of the Commonwealth John Apea has challenged students to be job providers rather than job seekers.

He has also implored governments within the sub region to support young entrepreneurs so they will be role models for students.

He made this call in an interview with the media after a tour of schools in Sierra Leone which ended in the oldest university in West Africa, Fourah Bay College, in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The Commonwealth Representative for the Africa region, said African governments and parastatals must begin to grow and nurture budding young African entrepreneurs in order to help reduce the growing unemployment in the subregion:

“Youth unemployment is one of today’s big global challenges. The world Bank estimates that we need 600 new jobs in the next 10 years just to keep global employment rates constant. 73.3 million or 36% of the world’s unemployed are young people”.

Making reference to embattled Ghanaian CEO Nana Appiah Mensah, Mr. Apea stated:

“In Ghana, the Government has recently had to step into a case between a gold trading company and its customers. Now, I am 100% behind the need for organisations to follow the rule of law. This is a must, ethically and legally. However, government must also aim to have the dual role of guiding and advising young entrepreneurs like Appiah Mensah who have created thousands of jobs, and promoted our culture and creative arts, like no one has before”.

He further stated, “at a personal level, although I have never met him, I have never believed that Appiah Mensah is a fraud, or sought to intentionally defraud people. That would have been a real suicide mission and wrong in every sense. Something went wrong, government stepped in. Now they must help him to return to Ghana, pay off the customers and redeem himself. There is no politics in this. It’s about the law, human rights and supporting young entrepreneurs who dare to dream”.

Youth entrepreneurship according to Mr. Apea, offers innovative solutions for economic growth among young people and the communities they live in. He emphasized the need for entrepreneurship programmes to go beyond just focusing on “entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem”.

“The role of the family and community to start and operate a business is one of the most influential factors for entrepreneurs to break through. Obtaining access to capital is also essential to establish or expand a business as is the need to have experienced mentors and advisers”.

On what the Commonwealth office will be doing, Mr. Apea promised the introduction of innovative entrepreneurship programmes in the last quarter of 2019.

“We have local and international partners, and we will make a difference and promote economic prosperity one young person at a time”.