Entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth.  Wealth and a high majority of jobs are created by small businesses started by entrepreneurially minded individuals , many of whom go on to create big businesses.
People exposed to entrepreneurship frequently express that they have more opportunities to exercise creative freedoms, higher self esteem, and an overall greater sense of control over their own lives. As a result, many experienced business people, political leaders, economists, and educators believe that fostering a robust entrepreneurial culture will maximize individual and collective economic and social success on a local, national, and global scale.
It is with this in mind, that the recent launching of an entrepreneurship  education programme for students in the area of technical and vocational education signals yet another positive step by the Ministry of Education to develop the skills of our young people to own their own businesses, realize their full potential in life and become more active players in national development.
Entrepreneurship education is a lifelong process, and as Education Minister Shaik Baksh correctly stated, efforts should be made to also infuse the programme into the curriculum of both  primary and secondary schools to stimulate students’ interest at an early stage in the area of business.
This will call for the establishment of standards and supporting performance indicators for teachers to use as a framework to build appropriate objectives, learning activities, and assessments for students.
Such a guide will enable students to have progressively more challenging educational activities and experiences that will help them to develop the insight needed to discover and create entrepreneurial opportunities and the expertise to successfully start and manage their own businesses.
The recently launched programme stems from a revision of the programmes offered at the TVET centres and aims to equip students at that level with the necessary skills to establish and effectively manage their own businesses.
It is laudable that a revision of the kind was undertaken as it is important for the Ministry of Education to constantly upgrade existing programmes and introduce courses that are more relevant to the current needs of the industries and commerce.
TVET has been identified as a major plank of the Ministry of Education 2008-2010 Strategic Plan and the ministry through a $US9.6M Caribbean Development Bank funded programme will see the completion of the TVET centres at Leonora, Region Three and Park, Mahaicony Region Five this year.
That initiative also provides for the training of TVET instructors, the re-tooling of TVET centres and the development of a revised and regionally certified TVET curriculum that is more relevant to the current workforce.
It is of critical importance that the government through the Ministry of Education has recognized the value of promoting TVET and the role a vibrant entrepreneurship education can play in transforming the local business landscape.
As more people create their own and other jobs through self-employment and new business formation, the number of unemployed people will decrease. In this regard, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a clearly demonstrated capability.
In most countries of the world, SMEs account for over 60 per cent of non-farm, formal sector employment. Moreover, most of the new jobs created in the last decade in Europe and the USA, for example, have come from SMEs. Notably, SMEs account for over 80 per cent of enterprises in virtually all countries. More specifically, in the European Union, SMEs comprise over 98 per cent of all enterprises.
Job creation depends in large part upon the initiation and expansion of small businesses and with proper training, entrepreneurs should be able to use their ability to spark new ideas and develop new products and services that create new businesses, which in turn create the need for new jobs.
This is the kind of activity that is needed in Guyana to spur economic growth, address unemployment and poverty reduction and make Guyana a prosperous and model nation in this part of the hemisphere.
It is encouraging to note that the new programme has received the support of  top officials of the private sector and from all indications, it will be a private sector driven initiative.
The government has created the business environment and today with  many lending institutions offering loans at affordable interest rates, notably the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) which has been in the business for more than 20 years , the establishment of small enterprises has never been  simpler.