Archives: Resources

In this paper, Youth Business International (YBI) and Somo, our member in Kenya, call for alternative financing schemes for informal youth-led businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. Informal businesses form a substantial part of the economy and in Sub-Saharan Africa 85% of employment is informal, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). These businesses, despite being unregistered […]

Financial health for young entrepreneurs means that they are aware of and able to access appropriate resources required to start and grow their enterprises, can manage their business finances, and have confidence in their financial future. Youth Business International and its members as part of the Futuremakers global youth economic empowerment initiative, funded by Standard Chartered […]

Commissioned by Youth Business International (YBI) in 2018, the report reviews experiences and success factors in scaling entrepreneurship programmes within and outside of the YBI network, and provides case studies of models for replication together with a scaling framework. This report provides a set of recommendations covering key approaches to scale, including: We hope this piece […]

Equipping the entrepreneurs of tomorrow Young entrepreneurs are vital to global economic development. They are helping to shape the economies of the future, to ensure sustainable growth and to guarantee prosperity in both their home countries and further afield. But with millions of unemployed young people around the world, their potential is going unrealised.  This […]

It is not easy to ignore the fact that 73 million young people around the world are unemployed; and 156 million young workers live in poverty. Quality interventions to support young entrepreneurs are needed more than ever. Many initiatives exist to promote youth entrepreneurship as a solution to global socioeconomic development goals, but there is still a gulf […]

Our research, which was published during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November 2013 compares entrepreneurial attitudes, ambitions and activity of young people in the UK against counterparts in other leading enterprise nations,  based on latest data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The study, Unlocking Ambitions, Creating Growth, found that nearly one in five (18%) 18-34 year olds […]

Starting a business is challenging, particularly for young entrepreneurs who need targeted support. Youth Business International’s global network of expert organisations is here to provide that support. Mentoring is a key component of the integrated package of financial and non-financial support services that our members provide to young entrepreneurs. It is central to what makes […]

In 2018, Youth Business International launched the first ever Innovation Challenge, a pilot initiative aimed at supporting members to ideate and test new solutions that meet the pressing challenges faced by young entrepreneurs worldwide. Organised by YBI, and supported by Accenture and the IDB Lab, the Innovation Challenge invited YBI members to propose new ways in which they […]

In 2018 Youth Business International (YBI) commissioned research to better understand the digital landscape and its relevance to young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The research aims to provide insight to support our work with members in the region on the adoption of digital technologies.  Overall our research found that digital landscape […]

Commissioned by Youth Business International (YBI) in 2018, Entrepreneurial soft skills for the future: a scoping study outlines a framework for the soft skills young entrepreneurs need now and in the future to better navigate the challenges of our rapidly changing job market. Supported by Accenture, this research report draws on an extensive literature review and interviews with expert, […]