KARACHI: Pasban Democratic Party PDP Chairman Altaf Shakoor Saturday demanded of the government to introduce start-up culture in universities so that fresh graduates could be encouraged to start their own businesses instead of waiting for government job.

In a statement, he said: “Joblessness is rising with every passing day. Every year hundreds of thousands of students graduate but majority of them could not find jobs.” He said if we introduce start-up culture in our varsities and higher education centers we can successfully induct our fresh graduates in market. He said with opening their own start-ups these youth could earn a decent living and instead of becoming a burden on their families could happily support them besides playing their due in the nation building process.

He said a startup culture is a workplace environment that values creative problem solving, open communication and a flat hierarchy. In a corporate culture, core values are typically informed by the identity of the company, including its mission statement, products and customer service. In startup cultures, these core values tend to reflect the personalities and ethos of the people who worked for the business in the early days. Because new businesses must adapt quickly to internal and external market pressures in order to survive, a startup culture also promotes business agility and adaptability as being key virtues.

Altaf Shakoor said that start-ups are important drivers of job creation in any economy. He said there are many examples of the countries that attained huge progress and prosperity after training their young generation to open their own start-ups.

He said that there could be no two options that job creation should be at the top of the development agenda, for policy makers as well as for social partners and civil society. This is because labour is more than a factor of production; it is an essential element of any development process, of well-being and social cohesion.

He said labour is the main asset of people; the type of work people hold is one of the most powerful determinants of well-being, as, over their lifetime, most people spend a substantial part of their time at work. Moreover, it is an essential factor of production for firms of all types and sizes. Even in high-tech manufacturing firms, workers bring new skills and competencies to enhance the organization of production or to improve the quality and variety of products.

Altaf Shakoor said that start-ups education and training is an integral part of colleges and universities in the developed countries. He said in these countries in many colleges, education is more likely to lead graduates to launch successful startups. Students who attend these schools could be immersed in a pre-startup culture that rewards non-traditional thinking. They could be developing a startup mindset or connecting to an entrepreneurial network of people.

He said that the governments at federal and provincial level should give liberal grants and incentives for introducing start-up culture in colleges and universities. He said the Higher Education Commission (HEC) should make rules to make mandatory for every student to start his own micro start-up before applying for a degree after graduating. He said now is the time to teach our younger generation to focus on their own businesses instead of running after scarce government jobs.