Minister for Industry and Trade Premila Kumar is urging young people to startup businesses and become job creators.

Kumar says there are many initiatives which have been introduced by the government, and youngsters need to take advantage of these.

She says starting a business is not easy, but hard work is required for entrepreneurs to succeed.

 “More importantly, a successful entrepreneur must be confident and should never retreat or give up at the first sign of difficulty. No business is easy, it’s not an easy path. Some are lucky, some may not be lucky, and they are the ones who have to keep trying.”

Kumar says initiatives like the Young Entrepreneurship Programme (YES) has been introduced for those who have innovative business ideas and lack the funding to get it off the ground.

She adds this program is for entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 40 with maximum funding of $20,000.