The 5th SAARC Business Leaders’ Conclave, which concluded at New Delhi recently, affirmed: “We consider socioeconomic empowerment of the Youth in the region as [an] important element of regional integration. The energy, dynamism and value added knowledge and expertise of youth can help augment the pace of regional development. We recommend to the governments to take proactive initiatives to engage young business leaders in futuristic development plans”.

The vital issue here is will the youth leaders of South Asia await government action to come up with the desired plans? Or should it not be their responsibility, as business leaders, to do so proactively? The assertive and dynamic role played by South Asia’s NGOs led to the adoption of, by the SAARC Heads of State/Government, the SAARC Social Charter, which is a veritable landmark achievement of civil society. Let us hope that the SAARC Business Leaders’ Conclave, and the South Asia Young Entrepreneurs Forum (SAYEF), can together, sooner than later, endow South Asia with the much needed SAARC Economic Charter.

Is it not high time that the private sector gifted us its economic vision of South Asia for the Asian Century? The Forbes 2013 Billionaires list identifies 1426 such ‘sovereign’ individuals worldwide. I describe them ‘sovereign’ because many among them have wealth that far exceeds that of nation states. The US leads with 446 billionaires; followed closely by the Asia Pacific with 386 billionaires. From South Asia there are 51 in all—50 from India; and 1 from Nepal. Sadly, there are none listed from the other SAARC nations.

Can, or should, the SAYEF mobilize these 51 South Asian business leaders to come forth with the South Asian Economic Vision? Who knows, many among young entrepreneurs here might be relatives of them?

I often ask myself: why aren’t these South Asian billionaires, collectively, looking inwards to transform South Asia regionally with its vast resource endowment? Why do they choose to venture abroad even to the extent of engaging in contract farming, for example, in Africa and Latin America? Are we not blessed with abundant land, water and farm hands? Do not our villages cry out for more productive jobs and a better life style?

The ‘demographic dividend’ portends well for South Asia. It is anticipated this will last from 2040-50 with the share of the working age population to total population growing or remaining constant. It can be the new manufacturing hub of the globe.

China will begin to, sooner than later, face its ‘demographic deficit’ with rising wages and labour shortages. Its labourintensive manufacturing will surely move into South Asia in similar fashion to the Japanese ‘flying geese’ that led to the rapid industrialization of East Asia beginning in the mid-1970s.

Founded in 2009, SYEF is a strategic innovation seeking to expunge from young minds the dark and bitter legacy of the partition of the subcontinent. It is also an innovation where youth leaders nurture a regional mindset by developing the capacity to ‘think regional and act local.’ It is only then can we hope and aspire to make South Asia a global economic and financial power house of the unfolding Asian Century. For this to happen, we need to create South Asian MNCs – be they led by any of our Forbes listed billionaires or by our youth leaders.

By and large, we have witnessed unemployment growth in South Asia. To add insult to the injury, we have witnessed unimagined inequality in the distribution of income. Who are the beneficiaries of globalization under the WTO regime? Alas, it’s the very rich economic elites and the political elites, who are delivering a highly non-inclusive form of capitalism that may be best described as ‘crony capitalism’. I trust the youth business leaders can sense that this form of capitalism is like digging one’s own grave yard eventually.

If this continues, the ‘demographic dividend’ will be transformed into a ‘youth unemployment bomb’ through social implosion and political anarchy. There is no dividend when youth, especially the middle class youth, are engulfed by despair, desperation and disillusionment from the stigma of joblessness and its indignities. Not just for the sheer lack of jobs; but also the lack of requisite skills for the available jobs.

Youth symbolizes idealism, hope and belief in the power of ideas and innovation. This is what the common men and women expect from youth business leaders.

The common men or women expect from youth business leaders a value driven and ethical business organization serving the people as well as the planet-- not just seeking short term maximization of profits. They expect business leaders to be an integral part of society, safeguarding the planet for future generations from the predicted holocaust of global warming. The common man or woman will bestow faith in business leaders when the latter collectively demonstrate the ability to transform society. For this, they need to optimize the triple P (public-privatepartnership) and not maximize the one P—profits.

They can and should do so by strategizing their businesses as per the vision of the late management guru, Prof. C.K.Prahalad, who foresaw a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. Or even pursue the vision of Prof. Mohammed Yunus where he calls forth social businesses to flower the entrepreneurial spirit so abundantly embodied even in the poorest of the poor of South Asia.

I urge the youth business leaders to opt for ‘conscientious capitalism’ where all stakeholders are brought into the ambit of our business decisions; where businesses move beyond their CSR statements – often only being used as forms of charity for PR purposes.

Move beyond what and how, the youth business leaders might ask me here? I submit by making your CSR statements as morally binding commitments which could form the new basis for Consumer and Labour Courts to adjudicate with -- thus going beyond the ‘rule of law’ to ‘rule of morality’ -- for sound ethical behaviour by our business leaders.

Finally, I appeal to all – politicians and business leaders—that to strengthen our democracy we need ‘good governance’ that should be manifested in maximising competition, transparency and accountability. While the World Bank, IMF and the Asian Development Bank may think good governance is enough, I submit to our Youth Leaders here that it is necessary but not sufficient. Concurrently, we need independent, powerful anticorruption authorities in place with total overhaul of our criminal justice system. (Rana is a former finance minister of Nepal. The article is adapted from the valedictory address he made at the South Asia Young Entrepreneurs’ Summit 2014, Lahore, Pakistan.)