25 Years of Impact: Youth Business International’s Journey of Empowering Young Entrepreneurs Around the World

Youth Business International (YBI) began its mission of empowering young entrepreneurs a quarter of a century ago to address a clear need: for too many young people, starting a business feels out of reach, and they need the right support to succeed.

Young entrepreneurs have the power to boost employment and drive economic growth. 25 years ago, youth unemployment was particularly high, and supporting young people to start their own businesses was one solution to the problem. While youth unemployment prevails, the entrepreneurial spirit of this current generation continues to grow, and the value of youth-led enterprises as a strategic solution to economic growth is more widely recognised.

As we mark this significant milestone, there is an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come together.

A continued mission in a shifting landscape

YBI was born, combining global influence with local expertise, to provide quality support to as many young people as possible, especially those who face additional barriers to starting their business. Hundreds of thousands of new ventures later, we’re still addressing the most pressing challenges facing young entrepreneurs today, and our goal remains the same: to drive economic growth and job creation through supporting and scaling youth-led businesses globally.

From the beginning, there was a compelling vision to redefine what excellence in youth entrepreneurship support was and challenge common conceptions of who a successful entrepreneur could be. YBI has been recognised for best-practice mentoring support and for building trust and relationships among its ‘family’ of members.  Fewer than ten members joined us for our first Summit in Belfast in 2002, but good news spreads and growth followed.

• Last year, there were 150 organisations represented at our Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit.
• We now have 72 members working across 74 countries and 6 continents.
• In the last 10 years, the YBI network has supported more than 1.4 million young people to start or scale a business or seek employment.
• 149,000 jobs were created in 2022 alone.
• Last year, we achieved a record level of support: 365,007 young people, including more than 20,000 who started a business, over 62,000 who strengthened their business, and 21,724 who were supported to access finance.

In the beginning, we focused on helping new members design support programmes. Today, enterprise support organisations (ESOs) joining our network bring their expertise and solutions to the table. Our strength now lies in the network’s ability to evolve with the changing landscape, forming communities of practice. YBI provides training and spaces for ESOs to explore the challenges of the current economic landscape so that they can offer the most appropriate support. This ranges from toolkits specifically for green or social businesses, decent work principles, improving access to finance, or taking advantage of the newest technology like AI to run business diagnostics and improve sales pipelines.

As our long-time collaborator and mentoring expert John Cull has said, “We’ve learned so much from our members.” John has worked with YBI since its inception, adapting our mentoring resources over the years so that members can provide up-to-date guidance to young entrepreneurs. “The approach was and is: Let’s help young people with business education. Let’s help them with access to finance. And let’s help them with mentoring support.” The importance of these pillars has developed alongside the network’s growth, refining our expertise to continue to provide the highest quality support.

Driving impact at scale

Over time, we’ve expanded and specialised the scope of our work, with a commitment to supporting underserved groups such as women, refugees, migrants, Indigenous people and people with disabilities. With our partners, we have expanded our global reach, targeting responsible youth businesses who are making a real impact, and we thank those partners for their support in accelerating change:

• Accenture
• Argidius Foundation
• Citi Foundation
• EBRD
• Google.org
• IKEA Foundation
• JPMorgan Chase
• Standard Chartered Foundation

By combining the local expertise of our members with the global influence of our partners, we can adapt at speed and at scale, enabling practitioners on the ground to shape a better future through this current generation of innovative, conscientious entrepreneurs.

“I’m delighted to congratulate YBI on its 25-year journey of driving impact at scale. YBI and Accenture’s shared vision of equipping young entrepreneurs with the skills to thrive in business has resulted in a nearly 20-year partnership. So much to celebrate and I’m excited about what the future holds.”

Lucy Murdoch, Managing Director, Global Corporate Citizenship Partnerships & Solutions, Accenture

From support to success

Increasingly, young founders are more likely to have a responsible mission at the heart of their businesses, conscious of their impact on their communities and the planet. With tailored, meaningful support, they can be a generation for change, growing ventures that give back to their communities and create opportunities for those who come after them.

Kendal Netmaker is from Sweetgrass First Nation, Saskatchewan. He was supported by one of our founding members, Futurpreneur in Canada, when he started his sports apparel business in 2011, aged just 22.

“When I launched Neechie Gear, I reached out to Futurpreneur to help me get from a small kiosk to my own store in the local mall. The impact was profound, as business can often feel lonely, and the support was much needed during a growth phase of my career.”

Futurpreneur provides support to youth businesses with tailored services for Indigenous entrepreneurs. With their mentoring and financing, Kevin was able to grow his business, creating more employment opportunities in an underserved community. Today, Neechie Gear is still thriving, and a portion of their proceeds goes towards supporting young people to access sport-related opportunities.

14 years later, Kendal is successfully running more than one business. He is a consultant to world-leading brands, promoting resilience, leadership and Indigenous values. Read more about the impact of this support on his business journey here.

By looking at youth entrepreneurship support through a longer lens, we can see the impact it has on communities. Supporting young people to create businesses while they have the passion and motivation to succeed can propel responsible innovations, boost local and regional employment, and drive economic growth through both new and pre-existing businesses.

Looking Ahead: What the Next 25 Years Will Bring

YBI will continue to respond to emerging trends, work with our global community to identify and address new challenges, and harness global knowledge and influence to adapt to new industries and technologies. Together with young people, we will work to build future economies and drive economic growth for good.

We have two exciting launches planned for the immediate future.

The Africa Collaborative

Africa is home to the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world, brimming with dynamism and innovation. Despite this potential, young entrepreneurs across Africa face formidable challenges. In response to their critical need, YBI and a dedicated group of its members from across Africa have formed the Africa Collaborative with an ambitious 10-year vision: To make Africa the best continent for youth entrepreneurship.Our mission isto leverage pan-African experience and collaborate to ensure a more effective youth entrepreneurship support.

The Africa Collaborative aims to achieve this through three key intervention areas:

1. Enhancing Access to Finance
2. Strengthening Business Development Services (BDS)
3. Fostering Enabling Entrepreneurship Ecosystems

We will be sharing more information on this new group and our ambitions in September 2025.

The EYE Academy

The EYE Academy is YBI’s new online learning and community platform. In the EYE Academy, ESOs and young entrepreneurs can access tailored learning resources, attend live and on-demand training, and connect with peers and communities of practice. This new online community will allow YBI and its members to scale our reach more rapidly.

We will be sharing more information about the features and opportunities available in our new learning experience in the coming months.

Closing thoughts

After 25 years, our goal of driving economic growth through youth-led businesses has never been more relevant. Through our growing network, more young people than ever will have the power to boost employment and drive economic growth; their fresh perspectives and bold ideas are reshaping industries and societies for the better.

“25 years in, we know this: when young people are empowered to create their own future, they build a better one for all of us.”

Anita Tiessen, CEO, Youth Business International

By providing the businesses of tomorrow with the right tools and advice, we can build a better future with lower unemployment rates and more responsible business practices that serve our societies. Youth Business International will continue to advocate for youth-led businesses and support our members to keep providing high-quality, up-to-date support.

Thanks to the partners who have made our work possible, the members who have delivered outstanding business support services, and the young people who have started and strengthened businesses with a helping hand from the YBI network.

To see how we work with partners, see here.
For further information or to discuss working together, contact us here.