On the International Day for Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the UN, International Trade Center, Permanent Mission of the Argentine Republic and the International Council for Small Business put together a panel presentation on bringing youth and businesses together.

His Excellency Mr. Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. brought up the need to “deglamorize” big (regarding big business). We must start building up the reputation of being “small” and being good at it. Small enterprises employ the most people and account for most of the economy in the Philippines. For the most part, a lot of small enterprises belong to the underground economy- where it is difficult to regulate and easy to evade. Although that sounds bad, it is how they are able to grow. The problem today is that young people cannot afford to learn from their mistakes, that’s why this initiative will help them prevent costly mistakes.

Mr. Paul Maseli informed us that today’s youth face an unprecedented level of challenges when it comes to starting a business. Many face barriers when trying to start up a business. Documented challenges include lack of skill/access to the market and funds, being deemed as high risk by banks because of their age and no experience in navigating regulatory framework.

Income and employment opportunities are key to rebuilding infrastructure. We can achieve that by supporting local business so we can stimulate local and national development.

Meeting: Panel Discussion entitled “Small business, big impact: The Youth Dimension”, on the occasion of the International Day for Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (A/RES/71/279).

Date/Location: Wednesday 27^th June 2018; 10:00 to 12:00, Conference Room 9, UN Headquarters, New York, NY.

Speakers:

H.E. Martin Garcia Moritán, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr., Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations

Moderator Riefqah Jappie, Representative to the UN, International Trade Centre

Mr. David Hanif, Financing For Sustainable Development Office, UNDESA

Mr. John Denton, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce

Mr. Stephan Spazier, Deputy Trade Commissioner of Austria

Ms. Ashia Sheikh Dearwester, Nest.org

Mr. Farid Hegazy, Senior Technical Cooperation Officer, ILO

Mr. Raymond Landveld, UNCTAD office, New York

Mr. Paul Maseli, UNIDO Representative to the UN

Written By: WIT Representative Esmeralda Abdourazak