Academic urges people to venture into business and grow economy

PAPUA New Guinea’s economy cannot grow unless more people ventured into business, University of Papua New Guinea School of Business and Public Policy deputy executive dean resources and planning Dr Lawrence Sause says.
“There is a waste of opportunity for young people to contribute through business,” he said at a one-week entrepreneurial workshop for the students.
Sause is leading the ‘Beyond the Text Book’ initiative by his school.
He said the workshop was aimed at getting students to think business with their specialist skills.
“There are a number of concerning factors. First is the sheer number of Grade 12 dropouts who go back to the communities and become part of the ordinary population and put pressure on services,” he said.
“If you bring it to the university level, the same can be replicated.
“In the last 10 years or so, we have seen increasing number of university students unable to find employment. If they did, the job did not match what they have been trained for.
“Graduates who cannot find formal employment is of great concern (for the government and country),” he added.
Sause said limited size of the private sector was another damper.
“The largest employer is still the Government,” he added.
“PNG’s economy cannot grow, the economy will not develop unless we have more people getting into business, commerce and industry, and expand our economic base.”
“We have to generate a lot of money, make a lot of things and export and generate a lot of revenue for the Government and in turn the Government can sink the revenue back to the people and social services. That is when the country grows.”