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by Chandani Jayatilleke

Thanks to the on-going peace process and the Government's better fiscal management policies, the corporate and the banking sectors have reported excellent financial results, registering an economic revival in the country. But, this awakening should not be confined to the corporate sector alone. Benefits should be passed down to all stakeholders and one way of doing so is to create employment opportunities for the youth.

Having realised this responsibility, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called upon the private sector to join hands with the Government to be partners in launching an ambitious job creation project several months ago. The Premier said that the Government was committed to creating rapid economic growth and the private sector must rise equally to this challenge.

Lalith Kotelawala

Thanks to peace, the private sector has acquired the capability to expand its operations to full capacity and increase employment opportunities.

The Premier met a large number of businessmen and institutional heads over the last few months in an effort to strengthen a private/public sector employment creation program, which is now blossoming into a major project.

As a result of a series of meetings with the private sector, over 150 organisations have pledged to provide a considerable number of short-term, medium-term and long-term employment opportunities for both graduates and non graduates. These opportunities are in the banking, trading and industrial sectors.

Several key ministers have been asked to implement this project.

Graduates - their employability matters

Finance Minister K. N. Choksy will be in charge of private and state banking sector, Prof. G. L. Peiris - corporate sector, John Amaratunga, automotive industry, Lakshman Kiriella - plantation industry, Bandula Gunawardene - entrepreneurs, Rohitha Bogollagama, industrial companies, Ravi Karunanayake - trading, food, beverages, tobacco and shipping. Their efforts so far have been fruitful, with 36,000 opportunities already in hand. At present, they are in the process of filling these vacancies through two major initiatives - Sarasavi Saviya and JobsNet. Sarasavi Saviya, headed by an expert banker, Rohini Nanayakkara, intends to train and employ unemployed graduates.This program is financed by the World Bank and will get off the ground on October 28.

JobsNet, the Government initiated program for employment, has already received more than 10,188 inquiries from the private sector, according to the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Unemployed as well as under-employed, totalling 60,835, have registered themselves at JobsNet. Among the job opportunities available, nearly 5,000 are in the garment sector while 1,559 are available for service workers and shop assistants, and 1,469 in craft related production.

The JobsNet has referred 5,687 job seekers for interviews while 406 of them have been recruited.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's major business chambers have also taken a great interest in supporting the Government's efforts by way of creating employment opportunities for the youth in the country.

Chairman, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries of Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Nihal Abeysekera, said that they had already conducted a range of discussions since the Premier's call to the private sector to support this project. "We have had a very good response from our industrialists and trade associations. We are now in the process of finalising the documents to recruit young persons for suitable jobs," he said.

Abeysekera added that the private sector had been able to increase competitiveness owing to Government incentives over the last two years and that had resulted in expanding business activities. Chairman Ceylinco Consolidated and Economic Development Commission North Western and Central, Dr. Lalith Kotelawala, is another major figure who has taken a keen interest to provide employment opportunities for rural youth.

Dr. Kotelawala said, "In my view, graduates should look at opportunities in the private sector or set up their own ventures where they can put their knowledge into practice."

He added that the governments were shrinking the world over, and so was employment in public institutions. Governments were moving away from many responsibilities, paving the way for private sector take over. "It's a colossal waste of talent for a graduate trained in a specialised field to do a government job like that of a clerk. Such graduates should use their talent to create more jobs and help the society to grow simultaneously," he said.

Considering the burning issue of unemployed graduates in rural areas, Dr. Kotelawala has started a scheme to encourage both young graduates and other educated youngsters to take to self-employment projects through an 'Entrepreneur Loan Scheme'. "We have already granted over 100 loans under this project. I have made a promise to the Prime Minister to provide 1,000 self employment opportunities to the youth before the end of this year. In this context a Task Force has also been appointed to carry out this project without any hiccup," he said.

This project targets at providing financial facilities to graduates from rural sectors and ensuring that they set up business in their own territory, thereby serving their own villages.

Young persons can submit project proposals to obtain financial assistance under this scheme, from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 2.5 million, depending on the size of the business and number of employment opportunities that it plans to create.

Some of the projects that have already been started include, motor spares shops, exporting ornamental fish, milk packaging units, growing pineapple for export markets and small garment industries.

"As part of Economic Development Commission activities in the Central and the North Western, we have already revived the industrial sector, and created 2,500 jobs by reopening garment industries which had been closed due to various financial issues. In the SMI sector, we have employed about 5,000 people, he said.

"Under the Grameen project, we have created 20,000 business opportunities which have helped 100,000 people to be off poverty line," he said.

Kotelawala said that the private sector should make every efforts to gain the maximum benefits from the conducive environment, created by the economic revival following the peace process.

"Our duty is to pass down such benefits to the rural areas," he said. However, a spokesperson for JobsNet added that the youth should also commit themselves to these projects in order to gain maximum benefits.

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