New platform to unleash youth’s entrepreneurship |26 August 2022

Ms Belmont addressing the gathering

Youth.COM is a new platform unveiled by the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) to unleash the youth’s entrepreneurship potential by providing them with pathways to bring innovations into the entrepreneurial environment.

The business platform to empower, engage and support aspiring and existing young entrepreneurs, by helping them to develop their entrepreneurial skills through different interventions and approaches, was officially launched during the council’s ‘Let’s Meet and Greet’ activity for aspiring young entrepreneurs that was held on Tuesday evening in the compound of Kenwyn House, Victoria.

Youth.COM is not a web platform but rather a programme for aspiring young entrepreneurs who aspire to develop and own a business. It replaces SNYC’s Youth Buzz which was a competition-based programme for youth aimed at youth entrepreneurial development and promotion as well as innovation.

The aim of Youth.COM is to link young entrepreneurs to successful industry leaders to help them develop mastery of business concepts and strategies as well as providing mentoring supports etc…, encourage young people to start and grow their business ventures through capacity building activities such as life skills, computer literacy and market research, facilitate and support young entrepreneurs to tap into new market ventures and connection of young entrepreneurs with the local business environment and to provide additional support and after care on a needs basis to significantly increase young entrepreneurs’ success, among others.

The ‘Let’s Meet and Greet’ activity, which was part of activities for the Seychelles Youth Festival, was an opportunity for the 20 young aspiring entrepreneurs present to network and share their views on business and the business industry in the country with well-established entrepreneurs.

Apart from the aspiring young entrepreneurs, present at the activity were the principal secretary for Investment, Michael Nalletamby; the chief executive of Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) Angelic Appoo; entrepreneurs and other invited guests.

Addressing the aspiring young entrepreneurs in her opening remarks, the chief executive of SNYC, Penny Belmont, urged them to go the extra mile if they want to succeed as it is the people who go the extra mile who tend to find success more often than not.

“There will be struggles on your journey to success, it’s all about how much you can take and keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done. Venture into something you love then the money will come along later. When you’re trying to find success, you need to love what you do. You will fail at something, accept it, but that doesn’t define who you are. You learn so much from everything you do, whether it’s a win or a loss,” said Ms Belmont, who noted that the most important thing isn’t necessarily winning or losing but about them getting out there and giving everything they’ve got.

Mrs Belmont also took the opportunity to advise the aspiring young entrepreneurs to dream and set their goals, to stay consistent while in business, to be creative and innovative, be patient and to love what they do.

She congratulated the entrepreneurs, especially the young ones, who have made it and thanked them for sharing their business experience and their life journey to the youths.

Kelly Mein and Jean-Michel Vidot, two young professionals who have their own business, shared their experience to the aspiring entrepreneurs and guests. They advised the aspiring entrepreneurs to be their own number 1 supporter, to be the one to want to put in the hard work it takes to accomplish their goals and to believe and to invest in their business ideas if they believe it will work amid downfalls and failures.

Ms Mein is the owner of La Petite Fleuriste, a flower business based on order, and co-owner and senior partner of The Skin Bar, a beauty, cosmetics, and personal care retail store. Both businesses are based at Le Rocher.

Mr Vidot is the co-founder of Kilo Game, a programme initiated with the principal idea of helping people to lose weight. He is currently conducting the programme in the districts of Beau Vallon, Anse Royale, Roche Caïman and Perseverance.

Lynn Bastienne, who aspires to venture in a spa business, said that through the networking with the entrepreneurs, she has been motivated to believe in herself and to never give up on her idea to open her spa business one day.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the ceremony.

Text & photos by Patrick Joubert