Following a briefing at today's Cabinet meeting by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on the cross-ministry youth startup program, Premier Jiang Yi-huah asked agencies to step up publicity of their entrepreneurial assistance programs for young adults.
Agencies are currently implementing a number of measures for youths, including startup business consulting, educational courses, research and development subsidies, financing and investment.
To allow young people unambiguous understanding of the sources of aid that the government is making available to them, informational materials should be easy to understand, simple, friendly, and designed with young people's perspectives in mind, Jiang specified.
"The young are the nation's hope for the future, and the government must value the cultivation of their startups and employability and assist their career development," he said.
Implemented by 13 government agencies—including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and MOEA—the youth startup program focuses on offering incentives, consulting and finance and encouraging innovation through its 48 action plans.
Between 2014 and 2016, the program will inject about NT$2.72 billion (US$89 million) to bolster young people's capabilities in starting businesses, provide comprehensive financial assistance, and encourage youths to participate in or initiate social enterprises. The objective of the project is to facilitate 3,130 startups—including emerging agriculture, cultural and creative, and social enterprises—and at least 38,056 steady jobs per year.
The MOEA proposed the program after spending more than five months taking inventory of and integrating various agencies' resources for coaching young startup creators. It offers diversified services to prepare youths to create new businesses and to meet the challenges posed every step of the way.
Jiang noted that he instructed relevant agencies to proactively help young people make their startup dreams come true and starting a business or getting a job had to be made easier for them during an expanded political affairs meeting on October 14, 2013. He affirmed that the MOEA's program does this and thanked the ministry as well as Minister without Portfolio Feng Yen for their efforts.
A quarterly forum is already held to strengthen cross-ministry collaboration on the project, Jiang said. He asked Minister Feng to organize additional meetings among ministries and requested the MOEA to expedite the establishment of a youth startup aid information platform. "Ministries must work together to remove barriers for young entrepreneurs," he said.
Meanwhile, agencies not included in the project should contemplate ways they can contribute and create more development opportunities for young people, the premier added.