[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he overgrowth of small businesses evolving from every nook and cranny of Saint Lucia only continues with every year. The Saint Lucia Registry of Companies and Intellectual Property has already registered over 100 businesses as of April 3, 2018. Apart from those officially registered and approved by respective agencies, I can count in the tens the number of bakery, nail art, clothing, hand made jewellery or handbags, and make up businesses that request to follow on Instagram. If it’s not of that genre other services are advertised for profit such as hair styling from home, delivery services, makeover or make up services among others. What’s most noticeable is that many of the emerging entrepreneurs are young people.
It’s noted in many interviews with successful entrepreneurs that like the famous proverb goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.”Of course, for many local youth who consider themselves entrepreneurs, the necessity of employment is what triggered a myriad of new businesses. The prime minister recently said in his Budget Address, “Youth unemployment remains a stubborn challenge at 38.5 percent.”
Running a small business is slowly becoming something that no child needs help with because there’s no secret formula or intimidating process to register. In fact all it takes is some time, a $2 postage stamp and a fee of $125.
Nyus Alfred, Vice President of the National Youth Council (NYC) explained the benefit of entrepreneurship saying: “It’s a good thing. It kind of diversifies our job market in Saint Lucia and the variety of businesses that we have in Saint Lucia. Now we have people catering for everything.”
And as it pertains to developing youth he said, “As a young person you’re forced to learn a lot of things; accounting, money management, human resource, registering your business, income tax—a wide range of skills that you probably won’t have learnt at school.”
Entrepreneurship is also encouraged because it creates a form of employment where there was none for some young people, for others it’s a case of having a calling or passion outside of the 9 to 5 routine.
But unless your idea is outstanding, creative and bold and you already have a basis to begin business investments, becoming an entrepreneur may be another dead end for the youth. Alfred explained the biggest limitation for young entrepreneurs: finance. He said, “While there are places like Belle Fund who are able to provide support, it still has its drawbacks because some persons are not able to get access to this type of funding because of it’s requirements. Right now you don’t have financial institutions outside of that who would give support to a new entrepreneur, banks don’t do it, that’s not a risk that they’re going to take.”
As for government aid, he said, “The only time the government’s support would be enough is when youth unemployment is at 0 percent and we know that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
Also, despite organizations like NYC, government entities and private sector agencies who carry programmes on entrepreneurship education, some young persons aren’t prepared to face the challenges. For that reason, “A lot of start up businesses by young people fail,” said Alfred, “because they don’t know about the challenges.”
There is also the issue of support from society and the threat of certain markets becoming saturated. “Unemployment creates a domino effect no matter how you look at it because yes we want to start off our business and we expect persons to support them,” challenged Alfred, “But at the same time people cannot afford to support local businesses. It’s not that they don’t want to it’s because a lot of the time their financial situation does not allow them to.”
Youth unemployment remains at an alarming 38.5 percent, but given the economic challenges in the country generally, the hunt for traditional employment is just as risky as starting up a business. For some, both options are a temporary quick fix.
–C.E.
