Youth unemployment remains a serious growing and critical policy challenge in Africa and at global level. It is reported that in 2013, youth (aged 15 to 24) in sub-Saharan Africa were twice as likely to be unemployed compared to any other age cohort . Uganda remains one of the countries with highest levels of youth unemployment despite a positive economic growth rate over the years. This growth has
not been matched with a growth in new employment opportunities . The causes of youth unemployment are multifaceted, ranging from inadequate investment/supply side of jobs, to insufficient employable skills, lack of access to resources like land and capital, and high rates of labour force growth. The Government of Uganda has emphasized youth entrepreneurship as an important
avenue for job creation and economic growth. The youth entrepreneurship programmes are
guided by a number of policies across the different sectors and embedded within broader policies on youth, employment and BTVET . The study found out that youth undertake different businesses in various sectors however, most of them are unregistered especially those dealing in Retail/ wholesale
shops as evidenced in the figures below. At the time of the study (2016), Development Research and Training (DRT) found out that within Katakwi Town Council, a total of 287 youths are entrepreneurs of which 103 (35.9%) are registered while 184 equivalent to 64.1% youth are not registered. The findings in the study indicate that 30% of youth in Katakwi Town council and 25% in Kapujani sub-county stated that the most common reason for not registering a business was attributed to lacking the information and procedures on how to register a business.
