News Details

13/12/2017

KP government is going all out to provide resources to promising business ideas and youth will be the main beneficiaries of the widening areas to prove their worth

The Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has assured “his government is going all out to provide resources to promising business ideas and youth will be the main beneficiaries of the widening areas to prove their worth”. His government has initiated a number of initiatives for the youth that included skill development, technical and professional education in the province. This he remarked during an agreement between LUMS and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government at Chief Minister House Peshawar. Provincial Minister Mehmood Khan and others attended. The KP government has allocated Rs. 500 million for the KPIC, of which 84% will be given as grants directly to successful applicants and 16% will be used to implement the programme by LUMS SOE. The agreement for Youth Entrepreneurship Education Programme spells out partnership between LUMS and Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate education and entrepreneurship in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is a step forward Impact Challenge Program, Creating Economic Avenues, Social Impact and Entrepreneurship for youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The landmark collaboration between LUMS and the KP government aims to harness the skills, passion and commitment of largely rural KP youth and to bring them into the economic mainstream as job creators rather than future job seekers. The programme will identify potential entrepreneurs who can be groomed, coached and developed to turn their ideas into viable, sustainable businesses. Under the programme, the KP government will provide funding to promising business ideas and start-ups with unique products and/or services. The programme structure has been designed by LUMS and entails training various cohorts directly and selecting at least seven universities in KP, preferably those more accessible to young entrepreneurs from rural communities, to join the cohorts with at least two observers/trainees. LUMS will provide oversight and stewardship to these seven universities to bring them to the same level as the cohort being developed by LUMS itself. Addressing the ceremony, LUMS Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi said, “Our youth is our future. We are proud and delighted to be working with the KP Government on this ground-breaking initiative that focuses on entrepreneurship as the vehicle to improve the economic wellbeing of the youth. LUMS will share all of its learnings and provide oversight and stewardship to selected universities in the province, so that the impact of the initiative may be enhanced.” Commenting on the partnership, LUMS School of Education, Associate Director Dr. Mariam Chughtai said, "Youth in KP are most enterprising and resilient, yet they are economically marginalised and socially misunderstood. This collaboration between LUMS and seven KP universities is specifically designed to help unleash the talent in KP youth for sustainable capacity building across communities in the KP province." This legally binding partnership, spearheaded by the LUMS School of Education (SOE), includes the National Incubation Centre (previously known as the LUMS Centre of Entrepreneurship) as the execution partner, the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) as the local implementing partner, and the Bank of Khyber as a strategic partner. The collaboration will also facilitate the objective of the LUMS School of Education to conduct research, policy and practice in the education landscape of a globally marginalised region of the world. ===