Youth entrepreneurs to benefit from UK and UNDP mentorship programme

APIA, SAMOA – 04 FEBRUARY 2022: An eight-week mentorship programme will provide selected youth entrepreneurs with ongoing support to nurture and accelerate their business ventures.

The mentorship programme will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the Samoa Chamber of Commerce, with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the Government of the United Kingdom (UK FCDO).

The British High Commissioner to Samoa, David Ward signed off on this funding today, with UNDP Resident Representative (RR), Jorn Sorensen at the One UN House, Tuana’imato.

“I am delighted that the British High Commission and UNDP are able once again to work together with the people of Samoa to support Samoa’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and especially that this project will enable young Samoans to take advantage of the opportunities that technological change is offering,” said High Commissioner Ward.

(L-R) Tupe Crawley Lemisio, UNDP Project Manager; British High Commissioner, David Ward; UNDP Resident Representative, Jorn Sorensen & Christina Mualia, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative.

“The financial contributions of our partners (like UK FCDO) means that we can facilitate the necessary support systems needed for the development of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for youth who are keen to take up business opportunities as part of building entrepreneurship and SMEs development,” said UNDP RR, Jorn Sorensen.

The mentorship programme will be run under the Youth Co-Lab Programme, which is funded by the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The Youth Co-Lab is a business development platform for young people that empowers and enables innovation and entrepreneurship.

UNDP’s support to the Youth Co-Lab is rendered under the Strengthening Digital Transformation in the Pacific Project, which has as one of its key aims: supporting young entrepreneurs through capacity building initiatives and fostering of innovative business solutions to address national development challenges.

The Youth Co-Lab initiative will begin in March and will be completed in July 2022.