Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, dozens of young people have been paying attention to the initiatives launched by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship in partnership with UNDP, which annually launches initiatives to encourage young people about entrepreneurship.

Abdulay Rosa, is a young man who discovered at an early age the importance of entrepreneurship as a tool for the development of the country. The term Entrepreneur is directly linked to the person who achieves, who produces new ideas through the congruence between creativity and imagination.

Through daily experience, the young entrepreneur identified a lack of natural and healthy drinks, a large amount of waste derived from green coconuts, a lack of use of biodegradable materials in commerce, a lack of current coconut production and unemployment that has increased thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reflecting on the contribution of young people in society and how they can through entrepreneurship change the situation of not only their communities but also the country, Abdulay proposed to create a business that could ensure a greater supply of 100% natural coconut water.

For him, succeeding would mean turning green coconut waste into Tubete, into Organic compost and producing coconut trees so that there will be no shortage of coconut trees in the coming years, thus creating new jobs.

This is how Coco Expres STP came about, an initiative that aims to promote self-employment by marketing green coconut water spreading its benefit to health and well-being.

In 2020, MJDE and UNDP launched Empreende Jovem, with the aim of developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem of São Tomé and Príncipe through a platform of incubators, which are spaces where there will be means and personnel available to work with entrepreneurs both in developing their ideas and in monitoring their businesses.

Lay, as he is known by his friends and family, signed up for the Programme Empreende Jovem with the intention of solving an identified problem and creating new jobs for his community.

He presented his idea and competed along with hundreds of other young people to find grants and training to implement his business.

After being selected, the young entrepreneur received funding and is in the implementation phase of his business. Currently, he is building his office and warehouse to store his goods.

Despite the efforts of MJDE and UNDP, a large fringe of the youth layer is looking for their first job and without ideas of starting their own business, but through the various programmes to encourage and foster entrepreneurship, many of them are being trained on the subject thus paving the way to create their own jobs.

It is important to ensure that young people living in the most remote communities of the country are informed, trained and listened to as a solution for the development of Sao Tome and Principe.

The Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship, Vinicio Pina, met this Friday, 10th, with the President of the São Tomense Athletics Federation, Euridice Medeiros, and the President of the Fundação Filhos de STP, Miguel Martin, in order to launch the preparatory activities for the 2022 edition of the "São Tomé Marathon".

The three interlocutors evaluated the 2020 edition, which took place last July 4, and gave a positive note to the organizing committee. They underlined, in this regard, the collaboration of the various public and private institutions and sponsoring companies.

The three promoters of the São Tomé Marathon decided to announce that the second edition will take place on 26 June 2022, and the preliminary tasks for the purpose are already under way.

During the meeting, Vinicio Pina praised the commitment of the institutional partners, and appealed to the companies that operate in STP to support the next edition of the marathon.

It is worth remembering that, in this first edition, more than 150 national and foreign athletes participated.

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship (MJDE), through the Directorate of Entrepreneurship - in its mandate to promote entrepreneurship in the country - has invested in finding training opportunities and direct incentives for young entrepreneurs.

Despite the limitations of the market, MJDE, through local and international partners, has encouraged young people to realise their business ideas.

The Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship, Vinicio Pina, continues to sensitise bilateral and multilateral partners, namely the UNDP, to ensure support for the projects already flagged.

The community of Agostinho Neto, district of Lobata, was the chosen scenery for the launching of the project "Empowerment of Girls" that has as main objective the accomplishment of the national strategy of gender.

It is a project made up of the following components: increased technical business capacity through UNICEF, increased access to finance for startups led by women in vulnerable situations through UNDP, increased capacity of women-led startup associations through ILO, and increased education-related safety nets available for girls in vulnerable situations through UNICEF.

The project targets girls aged 18-24 who have experienced early pregnancy, are at risk of dropping out of school and those who have dropped out for some reason.

At the time, the Minister of Youth, Vinício Pina, underlined the importance of the project because "we have seen in recent times, an increasing number of this section of the population of school age abandoning their studies, especially in this pandemic period due to various factors, mainly economic, social, financial, among others, especially young women, which may be perfectly reversed with this project in a well defined way, implemented to combat this growing index that graces our society.

Throughout the project, training in entrepreneurship will be implemented as a tool of capital importance capable of allowing girls to be better integrated in society so that they can be their own solutions, those of their families and of society.

The UNICEF representative said that "we should work so that each family, each woman, each youth, each adolescent and each child can enjoy a family life, a social context favourable to their health and well-being and development. In fact, as you know, women, girls and children are unfortunately the most affected, especially as regards the socio-economic impacts of this pandemic.

The project lasts 3 months and is supported by UNICEF, UNDP and ILO to build the capacities of 180 girls who have dropped out of school by providing training in life skills, sex education and sewing, entrepreneurship, etc.

The project aims to make the girls attend school and be informed about professional opportunities and develop other skills in women empowerment.