Learning papers

Investing in young entrepreneurs’ resilience, business pivots and digital solutions is critical to supporting a generation whose economic futures have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, according YBI’s latest report, Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response & Recovery Programme. 

As the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 exacerbates the global youth unemployment crisis, millions of young people around the world are at risk of falling behind and living in poverty. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 17% of young people employed before the outbreak stopped working altogether. MSMEs, especially those led by women, youth, ethnic minorities, and migrants, were significantly impacted by COVID-19 with 70-80% facing major financial difficulties.

The report – Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response & Recovery Programme – reflects on the insights from YBI’s 32-country pandemic rapid response and recovery programme which supported underserved entrepreneurs to build back stronger, be personally resilient, and ensure their businesses could endure a myriad of future shocks and harness new opportunities in a post-pandemic world.