YBSL joins YESL to celebrate GEW Sri Lanka 2012

The Youth Business Sri Lanka (YBSL) Program of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has joined Young Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka (YESL) to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week Sri Lanka 2012.

The role entrepreneurs can play is becoming vital, and YBSL is involved in integrating businesses and linking the opportunities for entrepreneurs that are critical in the post conflict Sri Lanka.

YBSL has been actively initiating programs with the support of Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Standard Chartered Bank, International Alert Projects and the Business for Peace Alliance, creating a starting point to build viable and sustainable businesses by creating a momentum in the entrepreneurial activity among the youth.

YBSL provides concessionary credit to disadvantaged youth to start up own business as a means of improving their livelihoods and as an avenue to engage in the main stream development activities through networking and social inclusion.

An integral component of the assistance is the engagement of a volunteer business mentor to support the young entrepreneurs in business decisions through mentoring.

]YBSL builds on the success of the Hambantota Youth Business Trust, and is being guided by the operational principles of Youth Business International (YBI) in UK, a charity under the Prince of Wales.

Mentoring is one part of an integrated package of support services that a member provides to young entrepreneurs, but it is a vital ingredient in the success of that support package, and central to what makes the YBSL model unique.

YBSL credit, for youth between 18-35 years, is primarily to start a business or to fund the next step of the existing self employment to enterprise level. The eligibility is that youth is unable to obtain a loan from a bank due to his/her disadvantaged position (social exclusion, lack of collateral, etc.), and should have a sound business idea and ability to engage in the same.

YBSL with its existing programs supports the regional structure and sustainable business linkages to integrated regional development in the areas that are affected by poverty, war, and displacement, addressing the socioeconomic challenges of Sri Lanka.

The years 2011 and 2012 have been crucial and significant for YBSL, moving into four new Districts – Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Ampara and Mannar in the north and east and launching the new YBSL branch in Anuradhapura.

This gives the advantage of covering major Districts of the area including Kandy, Badulla, Jaffna, Trincomalee, and Hambantota. As part of the strategic plan YBSL has started training programmes in the north and east on generating business ideas.

Mentors visited from United Kingdom and volunteered to support by sharing their experience to inspire the young entrepreneurs in these training programs.

Mentor Antonia, who has 10 years of solid accountancy and business experience, said: “I thought they were brilliant; they may not be able to do a lot but they have got the potential. Many may think these are just time-passing activities, but I believe every little step can make a huge difference in people’s futures. It’s important being positive.”

Mentor Siva Ranjan, working as an accountant for the last 20 years and a keen sportsman playing cricket in the Kent League, said: “I had wrongly assumed that many from these parts of the world would have been reluctant to take the risk of starting their own business. I was amazed to note the participants’ confidence, willingness to work hard, their sense of humour, and the will to succeed.”

YBSL organised financial training along with Standard Chartered Bank in March 2012 and will be continuing similar training in Jaffna to create awareness on the procedures of banking requirements and accounting standards.

Along with these trainings, the Management Information System (MIS) component has been added to the regional base YBSL program officers. The mentor trainings have been planned for district mentors to design and match local needs and demands.

Further the district chambers have formed their Women and Mentors’ Wing as part of the chamber hierarchy, which will be a value addition for YBSL operations.

YBSL (www.ybsl.lk) is an accredited program of Youth Business International (YBI), a charity dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs, and is the leadership body for a network of youth business programs implemented in 38 countries worldwide.

This year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week campaign in the United Kingdom (GEW UK), which is hosted by Youth Business International, has smashed its target number of events of 2,500, a truly fantastic achievement in the current economic climate.

The YBI network plays a big role in the global GEW community and has a fantastic track record of providing interesting and innovative campaigns to promote and raise awareness about entrepreneurship as a potential career.

YBSL is also positive about playing a key role along with YBI and network members to develop entrepreneurship and support youth as part of the socioeconomic development of the country and global initiative.