Linkedin Twitter

Create sustainable change for young entrepreneurs

Active

YBI supports young people (18-35 years) to start, strengthen and grow sustainable businesses. Its global network of expert organisations is present in 50 countries across six continents, working to develop new solutions to the critical challenges facing young entrepreneurs. In turn, they help to create more jobs, strengthen communities and foster sustainable development, impacting SDG5 (Gender Equality), SDG8 (Decent Work), and SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities). YBIs work is supported by Accenture, Standard Chartered and Ikea Foundation who have been instrumental in helping them increase the impact of their network.

Entity

Youth Business International (YBI) Youth organization, civil society, non-governmental, non-profit organization

Technical assistance, expertise and implementation; Policy, advocacy and convening power

Partners

  • Accenture

    Private sector

    Technical assistance, expertise and implementation; Financial and/or in-kind contribution

  • Citi Foundation

    Foundation or philanthropic organization

    Financial and/or in-kind contribution

  • Argidius Foundation

    Foundation or philanthropic organization

    Technical assistance, expertise and implementation; Financial and/or in-kind contribution

Sustainable Development Goals & targets

  • 5.5 Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
  • 5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
  • 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
  • 8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
  • 8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
  • 10.2 By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
  • 17.16 Enhance the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in all countries, in particular developing countries

Themes

Achievement At Glance

A cumulative total of 358,385 young entrepreneurs have benefited from YBI's commitment to support young entrepreneurs to create, grow, and sustain their businesses.

183,751 young entrepreneurs have received online and in-person technical training from the YBI network to create tangible improvements in their skills and capacity to develop their business, strengthen their resilience, and respond to challenges.

So far, 111,194 young entrepreneurs have established a business or strengthened their existing enterprise. In 2021, entrepreneurs have strengthened their businesses against the ongoing shocks of the global pandemic by pivoting their business model, adapting products and services, and digitalised their business.

68 network members and delivery partners have received technical assistance, capacity building, and peer learning. 90% of members reported that being part of the network was useful or very useful for their work supporting young entrepreneurs. The most cited value adds were accessing services for members, opportunities for new partnerships and programmes, and learning and knowledge exchange with other members.

We kicked off our work on Inclusivity and there was lots of interest as members focus on ensuring their programmes and organisations are moving towards an inclusive offer.

 

Key Highlight On Guiding Principle

1. Recognition of the heterogeneity of youth and the need to promote targeted approaches.

2. Balanced set of interventions.

YBI believes in the need to recognise and reflect the heterogeneity of young people and build services that reflect diverse needs. YBI is working on the adaptation of a Decent Work training, originally developed for our members in India and Bangladesh, for a global audience. The training comprises 8 modules: safe & hygienic workspaces; competitive wages; working hours; no child labour or forced labour; social security; discrimination; and dialogue and representation. One cohort of 5 members has been through the pilot in 2021 and new cohorts will be offered to other members in 2022.

description

YBI sits at the centre of a global network of entrepreneurship support organisations, themselves innovative local engines of youth entrepreneurship. We are a platform for our members to exchange ideas, knowledge and insights, and to collaborate in a way that catalyses entrepreneurs’ success and multiplies impact.
Our members around the world provide young entrepreneurs with an integrated package of financial and non-financial support to help them as business leaders and to start and grow sustainable businesses.
Training: YBI members work with young entrepreneurs to equip them with the soft and hard skills and tools they need for their business to thrive.
Mentoring: Our members pair young entrepreneurs with an experienced volunteer business mentor to guide them through the challenging early stages of establishing a business.

Access to finance: YBI members may provide young entrepreneurs with an interest-free/low interest loan to cover the expenses of starting or growing their business or connect them with financiers who can provide appropriate financial products and services.

Digitalise: YBI members use a variety of digital tools to enable the delivery of their work, they develop skills in designing and delivering training digitally and they work with YEs to grow their knowledge and skills in using digital tools and approaches to run their businesses.

Other business development support: From specific training in business practice to basic assistance with things like bookkeeping and financial management for young entrepreneurs.

https://www.youthbusiness.org/
https://www.facebook.com/youthbusiness/
https://www.youtube.com/user/youthbusiness
https://twitter.com/YouthBizInt

Deliverables and links to SDG targets

  • 1,000,000 young people trained in relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, ICT skills and soft skills

    5.5 Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life

    Their target to reach 1 million youth is guiding the way YBI innovates as a network. To enhance member capacity and reach, YBI provides training to develop impactful training curriculum, improve the facilitation skills of trainers and equip young entrepreneurs with the business, digital and soft skills needed to thrive.

    BY: Dec 2025
  • 250,000 youth-led enterprises created or improved

    8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

    In the past 4 years, their network has supported over 95,000 young people to build a business by delivering entrepreneurship support services. YBI will support its members to reach 1 million youth (including rural youth, youth on the move and young women) and build 250,000 youth-led enterprises by 2025.

    BY: Dec 2025
  • 60 youth employment stakeholders supported through technical assistance, capacity-building or peer learning

    17.6 Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge-sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism

    Their members have diverse expertise in youth entrepreneurship support services. YBI enables them to scale their impact through: delivering training and other capacity-building initiatives including peer learning exchanges; supporting members to innovate their services and products; and connecting members to relevant partners to leverage resources and influence.

    BY: Dec 2025
Global

Start

01-Apr-2019

End

31-Dec-2025

USD 5,000,000

Estimated total value of the commitment

1,000,000

young people to benefit directly from this commitment

Target: Only young people 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-35

Primarily:
  • Young people in urban areas
  • Young people in rural areas
  • Young women
  • Young men
  • Youth with disabilities
  • Specific ethnic groups
  • Low-income individuals

Challenges faced in implementation

The continued uncertainty of the last year remained a challenge. There were many entrepreneurs who were left behind by the digital leap of 2020 due to the cost of accessing digital hardware or internet costs. This meant that while some businesses flourished others were stalled in their recovery and growth. We have also noticed that while people have been grateful for the continuation of services brought about by a move to online service delivery, many entrepreneurs and ESOs are missing the in-person connection face to face training and mentoring brings. We have found that members are looking to focus more on helping YEs to sustain existing businesses as much as start-ups and looking at what existing businesses need to be able to do this.

Gallery

Would you like more information about this commitment? Log in or sign up to contact the focal point.