Photo by CESO Staff
CESO’s youth program nurtures young entrepreneurial skills. The goal of the program is to improve the skills of youths in small business management, providing professional coaching in initiative start-ups and improving mentoring services available to young people.
CESO volunteers have helped young people to improve their entrepreneurial skills, develop businesses and create new jobs. In 2007, we completed a one-year entrepreneurship project in three regions of Cameroon, where job opportunities for youth are limited. (The project was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.) There is potential for future youth projects in Cameroon and other partner countries to collaborate with local financial institutions to provide small loans for start-up capital and to contribute to the development of local microfinance institutions.
One of the three priorities of the Canadian government in international development is to secure a future for children and youth. CESO and its partners work together to support youth at each stage of the business life cycle.