The Programme Manager in charge of Social Policy Development at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mr. Sushil Ram has indicated the Secretariat’s strong commitment to the formation of a Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs in Africa (CAYE-Africa).

Speaking to Solomon Adjei in Accra after a National Youth Policy Review workshop, Sushil said one of the key challenges facing youth in most countries, especially in Africa is high rate of unemployment, and under-employment and the Commonwealth is committed to averting this situation by helping member states to strengthen policy frameworks around youth, employment and entrepreneurship, to create an enabling environment that will ensure that young businesses succeed.

In May this year, young entrepreneurs from 17 countries met in Tanzania to work on a framework and a road map to forming the new CAYE Africa, scheduled to be officially launched in 6 months’ time, which is going to be a platform for the young entrepreneurs to network, share business ideas, create partnerships and trade among themselves in all the Commonwealth countries.

Some of the key outcomes were the selection of an interim leadership mandated to lead in developing an advocacy policy framework and to organize a major summit opened to all young entrepreneurs within the Commonwealth countries in Africa.

The Commonwealth is very committed to ensure these new leaders succeed by providing them with all the logistics they need, including building partnerships, financing, mentoring, and access to policymakers, among others, he said.

Sushil, however, applauded all young entrepreneurs and encouraged those to join the CAYE Africa network as it bring them tremendous benefits, including access to global market, as the Commonwealth is very keen on intra-commonwealth trade, among others.