Promoting Youth
Entrepreneurship
David J Lamotte
ILO
Background
 The
UN/ILO/World Bank High-Level Panel on
Youth employment has identified Youth
Entrepreneurship as one of four priorities for a
National Youth employment Action Plan.
Youth Entrepreneurship - Making it easier to start
and run enterprises so as to provide more and
better jobs for young women and men
 The
other complimentary areas being
Employment Creation, Employability and Equal
Opportunities.
January 2002
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Why promote entrepreneurship
“Entrepreneurship and business creation
are also a growing alternative for young
people whose age group often faces a
labour market with double digit
unemployment rates. Traditional career
paths and opportunities are disappearing
rapidly. A growing number of young
people are taking up the challenge of
starting their own business.”
(Juan Somavia, Director General ILO)
January 2002
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Entrepreneurship is a means not an
end
 "Youth
people's challenges are complex."
 Multiple solutions/pathways. (YEN 4 Es).
 Starting
a business is not an end but a means to
achieve an end.
If a young woman starts an enterprise (or becomes
self-employed) and after one or two years she finds
an interesting job offer and gets to be employed by
somebody else, it is a success?
January 2002
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Advantage of promoting youth
entrepreneurship
 More
employers
 Employees who better understand business
 More innovative and socially responsible
enterprises
 More jobs (most likely jobs for other young people)
 Better informed consumers
…
January 2002
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The situation facing many young
people
A young women is looking through the local
newspaper and finds the following advertisement?
Entrepreneurs wanted: Help grow an enterprise from scratch in an
business that offers no barriers to entry, many competitors, very low
margins, highly labour intensity, no propriety technology, few economies
of scale, weak brand distinction and little regulatory protection.
No credit available!
Serious inquiries only.
Would you apply for this job?
Yes or No
January 2002
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The high-level panel says that:




All countries need to review, rethink and reorient the legal and
institutional framework to make it easier to start and run a
business.
Governments and international organizations should work to
develop policies to integrate the informal sector into the
mainstream economy, raise its productivity and improve
conditions of work.
Governments, (national and local levels) need to encourage a
broad and dynamic concept of entrepreneurship to stimulate
both personal initiative and initiatives in a broad variety of
organizations
Specifically the High-level panel provided a detailed
recommendation (No. 7) on promoting innovation and
entrepreneurship for young women and young men.
January 2002
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Situation in the region
 Promoting
youth entrepreneurship is a widely
recognised need. It was mentioned in nearly all
the country papers.
 Also there was a recognized need to promote
an entrepreneurial culture; particularly in the
Pacific.
 Most countries in the region have projects or
programme to help young people start a
businesses.
January 2002
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Broad types of youth
entrepreneurship programmes
 Business


start-up programmes
Programmes specifically for young women and
young men
Programmes in which young people are a large
proportion of participants
 Programmes
designed to promote or foster a
more entrepreneurial culture
January 2002
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Examples of business start-up
programmes

Financial and human resources (mainly from the
private sector) to provide mentoring, credit and
sometimes training.



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
Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (India)
Young Professional Development Programme (Indonesia)
Philippines Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation involving the
ECOP, Rotary, (soon to be replicated in Indonesia)
Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Skills training (commonly on-the-job) and
entrepreneurship training

January 2002
"The LEARN Foundation” (Bangladesh) recruits young
people from minority communities and provides on-the-job
training in skills on ICT plus entrepreneurship training
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Programmes designed to promote
or foster a more entrepreneurial
culture
 Sponsoring,
running or judging youth enterprise
competition

Shell’s Operation Livewire
 School
based businesses and competitions
 Promoting role models

Australia’s Young Achievers
We do not have many examples of these types of programmes
reported in our country papers.
Is this because the do not exist or that we do not
know about them?
January 2002
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What we can learn from these
programmes
 Behind
every good programme, there is a social
entrepreneur who has a vision and makes thing
happen
 Successful programmes have very good internal
management
 Programmes must help young people take
advantage of market opportunities, based on
their (potential) capabilities and assets as well
as their aspirations.
January 2002
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…And …
 “Focus
on core competencies and partnership".
One programme (organization) can not provide
everything so it must form partnership with other
programmes.
 Public-private partnership is a key to
sustainability.
January 2002
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Framework for effective programmes
Visionary Leadership
Social
Entrepreneurship
Process
Networking &
Partnership
Economic
Dimension
Context/
Environment
Strategic
Management
Youth Focus
Political / Policy
Dimension
From ILO’s
IFP/SEED
Program Effectiveness & Sustainability
Increased Livelihood Outcomes
January 2002
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Innovation
Social
Dimension
Impact of these programmes
These programmes clearly help the young participants
overcome the many obstacles they face in starting a
businesses.
 Unfortunately, these programmes do not reach
sufficiently large numbers of young people.
 We should not necessarily think in terms of another
project or programme but start thinking more
strategically.
 Our strategy should foster partnership between and
build on the existing efforts of governments, employers’
organizations, trade unions, youth organizations and
other civil society groups to learn from each other and
to pool efforts and resources.

January 2002
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Developing a youth
entrepreneurship strategy
 Recommendation
No 7 of the high-level panel
provides some insights into the broad
components of a youth entrepreneurship
strategy.
 The strategy should foster partnership between
and build on the existing efforts of governments,
employers’ organizations, trade unions, youth
organizations and other civil society groups to
learn from each other and to pool efforts and
resources.
January 2002
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Promote a more enabling
environment
ILO’s Recommendation No. 189 On General
Conditions to Stimulate Job Creation in Small and
Medium Enterprises, provides useful guidance.
 It says amongst many priorities we need to:

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January 2002
Review and reorient the legal and institutional framework to
make it easier to start and run a business.
Encourage financial institutions to provide credit and other
financial services.
Foster an entrepreneurial culture
Ensure that young women have the same opportunities as
young men
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Integrate entrepreneurship into the
mainstream education system

Examine our education system to see to what extent it promotes
entrepreneurship and self-employment as viable and rewarding career
options.


Integrate entrepreneurship education into the mainstream academic and
vocational curricula. E.g. (ILO’s Know About Business)


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
Do the examples of work situations in the text books reflect entrepreneurship and
self-employment pursuits.
In a math class the students might be asked to work out a cash flow plan for a
small business and identify the costs of hiring employees.
In a language course students might learn about business terminology and
practice making a sale in another country.
In a history class the development of new businesses might be part of the study of
an era
Provide business start-up training and support for graduates who want to
start their own business. E.g. (ILO’s SYB and IYB programmes)


January 2002
Vocational institution graduates
University graduates
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Promote access to credit for young
entrepreneurs

Commonly finance (including micro-finance)
institutions view young people as being relatively risky.
Also for this target group lending scheme does not
seem to work well.


Finance institutions in some countries avoid unmarried young
women because (1) when they get married, they may move
to a different community and (2) when they get married, their
husbands will take over authorities on financial matters and
are unlikely to honour financial commitments that their wives
made before they get married.
Many of the more successful youth business start-up
programmes combine access to credit with business
development services.
January 2002
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Foster partnership with employers’
and workers’
 Sponsoring,
running or judging youth enterprise
competition.
 Providing mentoring and advisory services
 Providing work experience and on-the-job
training opportunities.
 Doing business with young entrepreneurs
 Encourage representative organizations to
advocate on the needs of young women and
young men entrepreneurs.
January 2002
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Foster the involvement of young
women and young men
 Encourage
participation and ownership of
decision-making in entrepreneurship
programmes
 Promote the formation of entrepreneurship
clubs and associations as self-help
organizations
 Involve and consult these organizations.
January 2002
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I would be happy to answer
questions and receive comments
January 2002
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