With the announcement of its youth loans programme, the government has taken its first major step towards delivering on campaign promises. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has long tried to establish itself as the party of the youth. The launch of its Rs 100 billion Wazir-i-Azam Kamyab Naujawan Programme promising soft loans of up to Rs 5 million to individuals to establish their own business, can go a long way towards Prime Minister Imran Khan’s promise of creating 10 million jobs over his 5 year term. The federal cabinet has approved the WAKNP that will allow eligible youth to obtain loans of Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000 at a 6 per cent annual mark up with Rs 50,000 equity. Loans from Rs 500,000 to Rs 5 million will be available for 8 per cent mark up with 20 per cent equity. Executed in the true spirit of the programme, the Rs 100 billion project can be a game-changer. Every youth running a successful business venture will be creating economic opportunities for several people around him. All that is required, it seems is, vigilance and dedication on the part of those supervising the scheme on behalf of the government. But a word of caution is in order. A similar scheme launched by the previous government with much fanfare fell way short of accomplishing its objective. The government would do well, at the very minimum, to heed its lessons. The scheme had been started with an ambitious target of facilitating 100 million businesses. In the end the number of beneficiaries came to a measly 17,861. A lot has been said about why the project turned out to be a flop. The most common complaints were about the demanding paper work involved and the equity requirement. The association of the former prime minister’s daughter with the scheme also drew flak. In the end there was a court order against it. It would appear from the previous experience that the paperwork needs to be very simple for the scheme to attract the youth. If successful, the scheme can promote an entrepreneurship culture. A whole army of fresh entrepreneurs can bring about a revolution. It might benefit from incubation centres like those working at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and the Punjab Information Technology Board. Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry has recently promised 100 per cent funding for promising new ideas for technology businesses. The government should also arrange mentoring to tech-savvy youth. Indian IT exports fetched $111 billion in 2017-18. Pakistan’s software exports during the period came to $1 billion. Once issues like PayPal services have be solved these should pick up. There can be no doubt that the future belongs to young entrepreneurs. *