The private sector must rise to the challenge of creating 200 million jobs in the Arab world over the next two decades to alleviate the dire rate of unemployed youth within the region, Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises and MD of the UAE’s Crescent Group, told delegates in a keynote speech at the Owner’s Forum Middle East 2013 in Muscat.

Other family business owners and public leaders speaking at the world’s leading family business-focused conference included Khalil Al-Khonji, chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, secretary general of the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Abdulla Al-Zamil, CEO of Zamil Industrial Investment in Saudi Arabia.

During the forum’s opening keynote address, Badr Jafar highlighted that youth unemployment in the Middle East currently stands at nearly 30 percent, and just to stop this rate from increasing, the region will need to create over 98 million jobs in the next 10 years, according to World Bank estimates.

Jafar added that a shift in responsibility is needed from the government to the private sector in order to create these mass jobs lies within the private sector, and that the key to achieving this in the long-term is through the development and structured support of entrepreneurship, and in turn the creation of SMEs.

“With the alarming amount of young people lacking meaningful jobs, the Arab World faces the very real risk of losing an entire generation to unemployment,” said Jafar. “While the government is an extremely important part of any solution, we cannot rely entirely on it to solve our socioeconomic challenges, which is why we must generate a private sector-led and government-enabled response to the problem, with entrepreneurship at its core. After all, the private sector possesses the skills, the resources, the knowledge, the capital and the networks to create long-term solutions.”

Jafar said: “Investing in entrepreneurship is the key to tackling youth joblessness, which is why it is imperative for us to work together as family businesses in the region, which are collectively responsible for over 85 percent of nonoil GDP of the 22 Arab countries, to develop and support a cohesive ecosystem that breeds, encourages and nurtures a generation of entrepreneurs who create relevant, long-term solutions not just for the present need, but for future generations to come. This, of course, includes establishing strong education systems that provide the skills required to thrive in a business environment, more flexible access to capital, and advocacy and mentorship programs such as those run by non-profits groups like education for employment.”

Along with its support for entrepreneurship in the Arab World, Crescent Enterprises is actively involved in aiding education projects in the developing countries as well. Most recently, the company partnered with Dubai Cares to fund the construction of schools in Palestine and western Nepal to improve access to quality primary education for hundreds of children aged 5-12, as well as provide a space for adult learning classes.