Today's tomorrow

A country born in 1966 rose, in a little over 30 years, from being one of the least developed countries in the World to a middle income country. Our economic success as a country has largely been attributed to revenue from mineral sales, particularly diamond mining which commands a large segment of our earnings. The need for Botswana to diversify her country need not be reaffirmed in this submission, what needs to be affirmed how ever is the strategies we have adopted to ensure that we attain the diversification we so badly seek. A majority Botswana's population is the Youth, comprising a little over 60% of the country's population, this segment of our society faces a myriad of challenges top of the list being a lack of employment and a lack of income. It remains crucial for the youth to be strategically incorporated into the mainstream economy such that they too can contribute to the development of this country. Entrepreneurship has been widely credited for economic growth in many of today's economic giants and has been widely praised for the innovation and creativity which it fosters in a given society. Currently our Youth face high unemployment levels, delinquency and many other ills, it remains crucial for Botswana to employ our young in the field of entrepreneurship such that they become job creators instead of Job seekers. Furthermore, they will in effect contributing to the growth and development of the private sector hence preparing us for a paradigm shift from a government led economy to a private sector led economy. By equipping our young with entrepreneurial skills and information, we will in effect be preparing them for competition with their counter parts in the global arena. Botswana's Economic Diversification Drive should be mindful of the fact that the Young are simply today's tomorrow.