Innovation programmesare key in promoting entrepreneurship

This shows the dependency rate and the challenges thereof. One major challenge is that this growing young population is not in tandem with the job opportunities available on the market, hence the high youth unemployment rate to-date.

However, the good news is there is an opportunity as a country to incorporate the unemployed youth into the workforce by building entrepreneurship support structures.

The support structures that are needed to build the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurs include incubation hubs where entrepreneurs are nurtured in a suitable environment that support co-creation, knowledge sharing and communities, business development centres, universities, research institutes to build better technologies, favourable policies; and government contracting and financing.

How do innovation programmes play a role in mitigation of youth unemployment?

It may not be the 'silver bullet' to the problem of youth unemployment but, innovation programmes have played a significant role in mitigating youth unemployment through expert mentorship, business and technical training, seed funding, market access, to mention but a few. There are several innovation programmes that seeks to support young entrepreneurs to address challenges in sexual reproductive health.

The programmesought to offer business and technical training, seed funding, access to expert mentors to support all the young people who will seize the opportunity to explore new ways to engage and tackle sexual and reproductive health challenges in Tanzania.

There many challenges are being experienced by mostly teenage and adolescent mothers. Who then is better equipped to understand and address this challenge except the young people themselves.

The programmes should createplatforms where young people can build solutions for fellow young people to address sexual reproductive health issues for which the youth are the major victims, and in so doing they have also provided a conducive environment for entrepreneurship and innovation to support youth employment.

The savings cooperatives (saccos) can promote transparency and accountability through better record keeping.

The mobile and web application enables saccos of small holder rural farmers to capture and view their savings transaction records. It also enables them to remit, withdraw and view their sacco savings via mobile.

Innovation programmes help with the "how-to" build for and "go-to market". Access to markets is a key impediment for young entrepreneurs, one that is normally forgotten.

It is assumed that once one obtains funding and a product that works well, they can easily get customers. Innovation programmes provide market access through industry mentors and partner networks who understand the market and are willing to assist entrepreneurs.

Sometimes they go an extra mile to provide investment capital to ensure a team succeeds. Through innovation programmes  young people canhave opportunities to network with stakeholders like development organisations, innovation hubs, government, civil society organisations and fellow entrepreneurs as they tackle these pressing challenges. They have an opportunity to build on top of what various stakeholders have already done through these collaborations to join the employment world.