Sustainability Toolkit programme concludes with nearly 400 youth businesses positively impacted

After two years of piloting and refining this resource for Youth Business International (YBI) members, the Sustainability Toolkit programme has successfully concluded. Launched in 2022 and supported by JPMorganChase, this initiative aimed to support underserved and young entrepreneurs in Germany, France, South Africa, Spain, and the UK to build more sustainable and environmentally conscious businesses, and it has made a lasting impact on the 374 youth businesses that have received training and support from YBI members and delivery partners.

Programme highlights

The Sustainability Toolkit was co-created with five YBI members along with the consultancy firm SoJo. It is a flexible resource that can be used in different settings and with different delivery methods to provide the skills and knowledge to young entrepreneurs to enable them to incorporate sustainable practices into their businesses regardless of their industry.

The five YBI members ran Pilot 1 of the programme in 2023, delivering the toolkit training to young entrepreneurs. In 2024, ten additional YBI members and enterprise support organisations (ESOs) rolled out Pilot 2 of the programme using a second iteration of the Toolkit that incorporated feedback from Pilot 1.

In addition, YBI supported all 15 ESOs to incorporate decent work training, adapted to their country context, into their support offerings for underserved and young entrepreneurs to empower them to become responsible employers.

At the end of 2024, the organisations who delivered the pilots came together for a community of practice event in Spain to share their experiences and methodologies of delivering the toolkit to young entrepreneurs. YBI members discussed how they plan to use the toolkit in the future alongside their other support services.

Local young entrepreneurs who received the training were also present at the community of practice and spoke to the potential for new revenue streams and increased value to customers that the sustainable adaptations they had made have provided for their business.

Achievements and Impact

Over the course of the programme, nearly 400 young entrepreneurs received support and training that incorporated the modules of the Sustainability Toolkit.

• 85% of small businesses reported satisfaction with the training.
• 82% of small businesses increased their knowledge and awareness of how to change or adapt to more sustainable practices in their businesses.
• 78% reported an intention to change or adapt to more sustainable practices in their business.
• 58% of small businesses had already implemented changes or adaptations to more sustainable practices by the end of the programme.
• 42% of small businesses reported an increase in revenue.

Youth business and delivery ESO feedback

On balancing profit and purpose

“They were teaching us about sustainability, something that we were taking for granted when it comes to my business. Sometimes we’d take off-cut fabric and we’d burn it, making pollution. So now we make sure that we use those off-cut fabrics for other things. For example, we are using it to cover buttons. We use it for masks. Before we would just see a small thing, now we also see profit.”

Kuvonakala Carol Mavunda, 34, owner of Sizanimavoko Enterprise and Youth Business International Bootcamp participant
Pilot 1 participant supported by Fetola, South Africa

Since the Sustainability Toolkit training, Kuvonakala’s business has increased profits and doubled the number of employees while making business changes such as using all off-cuts, reducing water usage and offering clothing alterations.

Motivations and advocacy

“My key takeaway: Every company, no matter how small, has the power to make changes in its processes or offerings to become more sustainable. Taking small steps is far better than doing nothing at all, simply because achieving complete sustainability feels overwhelming. Every little effort counts and brings us closer to a more sustainable future.”

Sylvie Ulrich-Kornilowicz, 34, owner “Déjà vu!” photo studio
Pilot 2 participant supported by FITT, Germany

Since receiving training, Sylvie’s business has committed to reducing its environmental impact by collaborating with printing companies that prioritize sustainability, offering eco-friendly paper options, low-energy production methods, and environmentally friendly inks. She is striving to create high-quality, sustainable photography while preserving the beauty of physical prints.

On delivering the toolkit

“Accessing the Toolkit has allowed us to extend the tools to the other programmes we work with. It has been a benchmark in a very coherent way for how we can apply these [sustainable] processes. For entrepreneurs, these small victories and small steps make it possible to show that it works, that it generates some change and above all they see that finally being sustainable is going to take them to a much longer stage of their entrepreneurship.”

John Gúzman, Entrepreneurship Technician
Dones Pel Futur, Spain, Pilot 2 participating ESO

Wider benefits of sustainable business

“I think the most useful tool now in hindsight is the stakeholder mapping tool. A lot of the entrepreneurs have ended up finding not just funding opportunities but partnership opportunities. Even after the toolkit implementation, participants are continuing to use this tool.”

Isabel Du Toit, Programme Lead – Business Incubation
Fetola, South Africa, Toolkit co-creation and Pilot 1 participating ESO

Reflecting on the journey to sustainability

Sustainability in business continues to be a growing priority for young entrepreneurs who are working to balance profit and purpose and who, as we have seen through this programme, are willing to advocate for more sustainable practices and lifestyles in a changing economy. “Sustainability is a topic that’s increasingly important for all businesses and business leaders”, says Anna Chojnicka, Head of Responsible Business at Youth Business International. “The existing reporting standards are really difficult for young entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses to access, and the Sustainability Toolkit helps to target young entrepreneurs in a way that’s flexible and adaptable.”

Regardless of their industry, over the last two years, the delivery members have seen an appetite among programme participants to better understand the breadth of business practices that can be rethought for efficiency, cost saving and sustainability combined. They have often been pleasantly surprised to achieve an increase in profit and a competitive edge as a result of reaching their sustainability goals.

What’s next for the Sustainability Toolkit?

The Sustainability Toolkit is now available to the YBI network via the YBI Learning Portal in English, Spanish, French and German. Building a sustainable and inclusive economic future continues to be a focus for Youth Business International and we encourage our members to take advantage of this tried and tested high-quality resource.

Thank you to the delivery ESOs

Pilot 1:

• Fetola, South Africa
• Hatch Enterprise, UK
• KIZ, Germany
• POSITIV, France
• Youth Business Spain

Pilot 2:

• Dones Pel Futur, Spain
• Empow’Her, France
• FITT, Germany
• Fundacion ONCE, Spain
• Launch It, UK
• Les Premieres, France
• My Dough, South Africa
• Social Impact, Germany
• The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN), UK
• WomHub, South Africa