Govt providing opportunities to youth for development: Habib

Islamabad: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Wednesday said the youth needed a suitable environment to shine and the present government had given them platforms for development through Ehsaas Scholarship and ‘Kamyab Nujawan’ porgrammes’.

He was addressing as a chief guest in the concluding ceremony of the week-long entrepreneurial drive of the Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS) of the International Islamic University (IIU) here at the Faisal Masjid Campus.

The drive contained workshops, a series of talks with industry experts and entrepreneurs, a business plan competition (in which participants of 80 universities across Pakistan took part), an innovative competition and a number of networking and interaction opportunities between students and industrial experts.

The Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS) organised the event in collaboration with the Office of the Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC), IIU. Addressing the concluding session of the Entrepreneurial summit, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib said that the Prime Minister has launched the first phase of the ‘Kamyab Jawan Programme’ for youth across the country to support them through technical and financial assistance. He said that Rs100 billion have been allocated for youth loans under the programme and Rs25bn have been earmarked for women.

He said the government is keen about education and through Ehaas scholarship programme it is going to provide basic education to the 20 million out-of-school children in the country. Talking about the IIU entrepreneurial summit, he said he was happy to see the talent and innovative ideas of the students and he would recommend to the relevant quarters to adopt these projects. He stressed upon the youth not to be discouraged and also asked to put aside the fear of defeat.

Speaking on the occasion in his keynote address, ex-president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, Sardar Yasir Ilyas emphasised the linkage of academia and industry. He said that market needs are important and there is a dire need to produce well-equipped, compatible with the needs of industry human resources for positive results.