KOTA SAMARAHAN: A total of 80 participants from 16 universities, polytechnics and community colleges from Sabah and Sarawak are involved in the Impact Digital Community Tourism Programme (IDCT2023) in addition to the participation of selected communities and tourism industry experts.
According to the Minister of Higher Education (KPT) Datuk Mustapha Sakmud, the number of student entrepreneurs in this country has been decreasing for the past few years with the year 2023 recording only six per cent of local higher education graduates from institutions that have produced successful young entrepreneurs.
Hence, he wants the Ministry to focus on empowering entrepreneurship among students of local higher education institutions.
The decrease in the number of student entrepreneurs may be due to the normalisation that occurred after COVID-19 which saw opportunities in the employment sector return to normal.
In addition, he said the Madani government’s efforts to bring in foreign investment to the country also provided many job opportunities for graduates.
“However, the focus on producing more student entrepreneurs needs to be strengthened.
“But for us, we also need to strive to produce entrepreneurs, because I think this will also provide income opportunities for our graduates, our students produced from our higher education institutions and TVET. I personally hope that there will be more entrepreneurs that we will produce in the state and the country,” he said.
Mustapha told reporters this after officiating at the Closing Ceremony of the IDCT2023 organised by KPT together with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) which took place at The Summer Mall shopping centre here yesterday.
The programme, which has been implemented since June 2023, is an effort by the KPT to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship among students of higher education institutions in Sarawak and Sabah in particular.
In addition it is to provide the opportunity for participants to help the local community in promoting tourism products for each selected location.
