KATHMANDU, March 3: National Youth Council (NYC) is set to extend its Youth Entrepreneurship Program to all 753 local levels of the country which will allow approximately as many as 7,530 enterprisers across Nepal to start their own venture.
"Currently, the Youth Entrepreneurship Program covers one entrepreneur in each electoral constituency, however, we have proposed to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to extend this program to each local-level body under the title 'One Ward, One Entrepreneur'," said Dhurba Raj Paudel, joint secretary and spokesperson for National Youth Council (NYC).
"Nepali youth refrain from pursuing certain professions that they usually end up taking up in foreign countries anyway. Although some Nepali youth consider certain jobs inferior, others with the willingness to initiate or expand their ventures cannot pursue their dreams due to lack of capital," Paudel added.
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According to Paudel, the program aims to enhance youth entrepreneurship in the country by providing a loan of Rs 500,000 with no security deposit or interest to a group of entrepreneurs in each ward of the country, in order to expand or initiate their firms.
In the current Fiscal Year 2017/18, the program is based in 165 electoral constituencies. One registered venture with 5 to 10 partners will benefit from this scheme in each constituency. In the past fiscal year, as the number of electoral constituencies was 240, the same number of firms was awarded under this scheme, benefiting an estimated 1700 individuals in different parts of the country. However, this year with the electoral constituencies dropping down to 165, only about 1200 individuals are benefiting from this scheme.
With plans to extend this scheme to all 753 local bodies, between 3,765 and 7,530 entrepreneurs will benefit from this scheme in FY2018/19, according to Paudel.
According to Paudel, the loan free of collateral or interest must be paid within the next five years. "Once the loan is disbursed, the capital must be paid in yearly installments from the second year of the loan period," he stated. "After a year, the entrepreneur will have to clear 10 percent of the amount and 20, 30 and 40 percent with each successive year. The capital should be repaid within five years."
According to Paudel, prospective entrepreneurs must submit a proposal to District Youth Committee to enter into the entrepreneurship program.
