Accelerating Youth-led Businesses in the Digital Era

In 2019, Youth Business International (YBI)  launched a regional programme funded by IKEA Foundation to equip young people in India and Bangladesh with the entrepreneurship skills they need to build and sustain thriving businesses, create jobs and boost local economies.

Over three years, the programme has:

• Supported over 1,200 entrepreneurs to start a business
• Helped over 1,600 entrepreneurs to increase their business knowledge and skills
• Empowered entrepreneurs to create over 8,100 new jobs

Programme overview

Millions of young people in India and Bangladesh are unemployed or trapped in low-wage, low-skilled or unsafe jobs. Many lack the skills and capacities to succeed in today’s rapidly changing world of work, particularly regarding the adoption of digital technologies. Without access to a decent and stable income, young people struggle to provide a better future for themselves or their families.

Youth Business International’s and IKEA Foundation’s joint initiative recognised the potential of youth enterprises to become engines for job creation and provided opportunities for more young people to get out of the poverty cycle. It supported over 3,200 entrepreneurs in India and Bangladesh to start over 1,200 new businesses and strengthen over 1,400 existing businesses – making a lasting impact on the lives of the entrepreneurs, their businesses and communities.

The programme was implemented by YBI members Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) in India and Youth Enterprise Advice and Helpcentre (B’YEAH) in Bangladesh. The regional focus facilitated collaboration and sharing of learning, which can be scaled across the YBI network to serve young entrepreneurs around the world.

Programme Structure

The programme had three key components:

• Design and implementation of country-level projects: young entrepreneurs were provided with training, mentoring, access to low interest loans and other business development support to start and grow their business;
• Digital accelerator:  YBI’s innovative approach (developed with our flagship partner Accenture) enables members to explore, identify and understand their digital context, adapt their training to address digital skills gaps in young entrepreneurs and improve their own digital capacities; 
• Understanding decent work: through research into decent work, YBI has developed a framework that supports members to implement training that helps young entrepreneurs understand their business and employer regulations and create positive business standards and decent work concepts.

Find out how the programme has supported young entrepreneurs Sabiha Islam Bithi (Purnota Craft) from Bangladesh and Swapnil Borge (M/s Swayog Agrotech) from India: