Youth dominant in business

Kathmandu, Aug. 3

Almost half of the entrepreneurs and business managers in the country are young.

According to the final results of the National Economic Census 2018, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), a couple of days ago, almost 49 per cent owners and 54 per cent mangers are aged below 40 years.

 Of the 923,356 business institutions active across the country, 450,464 establishments are owned by the young entrepreneurs. About 23.33 per cent owners are aged 40-49 years, 11.52 per cent 50-59 years, and 5.58  over 60 years.

Likewise, about 26 per cent managers are 40-49 years of age.

Anil Sharma, Director of the CBS, said that the results about the young entrepreneurs and managers are encouraging. "It shows that the young people are attracted to self-employment and they are ready to contribute to the society and economy. They are ready to take up business and industries," he said.

However, he maintained that in order to assess the progress or trend, the country should wait for the second economic survey.

Hari Bhakta Sharma, Immediate Past President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), termed it 'happy news'.

"We have seen young people with higher appetite for entrepreneurship which is supported by the recent facts by the census," he said. "It will help the entire economy grow as young people are highly motivated to expand their business and make innovations."

But the national census exhibited that the large establishments are primarily owned by adults. Majority owners of the industries and business companies with more than 100 employees are aged above 40 years.

Of the 1787 businesses having more than 100 employees, only 45 are owned by young people below 30 years of age while the owners of 539 establishments are aged above 50 years.

Large industries with more than 1000 employees are primarily owned by adults – of the 53 such companies, only four are owned by young entrepreneurs.

However, the number of young managers is higher than the owners with 454 companies being run in their leadership. About 221 institutions are led by the managers above 60 years of age.

CNI President Sharma said that the large industries need seasoned managers which could be produced with higher experience, but such managers are not being produced.

"Young managers are attracted towards the foreign companies due to high ambition and payment. But in order to meet the demand, we need to produce more young managers," he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 4 September 2019.