Youth unemployment is one of today’s big global challenges. The World Bank estimates we need 600 million new jobs in the next 10 years just to keep global employment rates constant and according to the International Labor Organization, 73.3 million of the world’s unemployed are young people (about 36%). Add ‘under-employed’ youth to this and the number triples; over 169 million young people earn less than US$2 per day. The problem is even greater in rural communities where increasing migration to urban areas around the world means a higher concentration of rural poverty.

Youth entrepreneurship offers innovative solutions for economic growth among young people. But youth enterprise initiatives are still relatively new to global development. How can programmes best support sustainable youth entrepreneurship?

Recent research on two Raleigh International youth projects in rural Nicaragua and Tanzania shed some light on how to strengthen programmes for better results.  Here are our top five lessons:

1. Get families and communities on board
To date, most youth programmes focus on entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem, but don’t take into account the role of the family and community. Family support to start and operate a business is one of the most influential factors in the ability of entrepreneurs to make headway, especially for rural youth. Finding ways to engage and gain support from families and communities is vital.

2. Develop business, technical and life skills for use beyond the project
Many young people, especially in developing economies, turn to entrepreneurship because of lacking job opportunities. But they might not always be in entrepreneurial roles. Development programmes that feature skills training that can be used beyond the end of the project are more attractive to youth, families and communities.

3. Think carefully about how to support young people to access finance
For young entrepreneurs, obtaining access to capital is essential to establish or expand businesses. Unfortunately, these young people typically have the least access to ready capital. Accessing finance varies from country to country – but also from community to community. As such, development programmes need to plan carefully how best to support young people to get the funds they need. This means thoroughly examining different financial models and developing products tailored to the needs of participating youth.

4. Use mentors and set clearly defined goals
Mentors can help young people to examine their business plans and ideas. They connect them to larger networks, act as role models and demonstrate models of success. Literature and evaluation on youth entrepreneurship indicates that for mentorship to make a difference, mentors and youth entrepreneurs must have strong relationships based on clearly defined goals and obligations.

5. Be ready to adapt your approach for different contexts
Rural poverty has some universal characteristics, but the problems youth entrepreneurs face require locally grounded solutions. Young people are more vulnerable to external changes (such as changes in climate, economic crisis, or political and social changes) and may have different needs and aspirations, depending on their local environment. Adaptability and adjustability can be the lifeline of a programme, as situations arise and evolve.


Entrepreneurship can be a powerful tool to help fight youth unemployment. As such there is real value in studying youth entrepreneurship programmes. These five recommendations come from the first-person experiences of volunteers and entrepreneurs. For development workers and policy-makers working in youth entrepreneurship these findings can help craft better programmes and policies that help to tackle rural poverty and foster new opportunities for young people today and tomorrow.

 

By promoting values ​​such as daring, creativity, responsibility, solidarity, perseverance, self-confidence and initiative, we unquestionably contribute to the enrichment of the individual and the community. With this in mind, a series of measures are likely to favor youth entrepreneurship, namely:



1- easier access to financing, guarantees and loans of honor.

2- the benefit of adapted support, counseling and training services.

3- the provision of nurseries and community facilities.

4- the granting of a share of public contracts to young entrepreneurs.

5- co-optation by large groups during startups' departure.





Partnership Construction of Business Incubators:

The construction and equipping of nurseries through a win-win partnership of the public and private sectors and more particularly communities, universities and businesses is a basic infrastructure for regional economic, industrial and technological development, and supports the equipment of industrial zones and business centers intended to welcome companies and investments.



The existence of a nursery in a municipality or in a region contributes to enhancing its capacity for commitment to the creation of the company and jobs, and is a strong argument for boosting its territorial marketing.



And in the framework of the shared competences between the State, the regions and the communities, there is a joint commitment in favor of the provision of the infrastructure necessary to welcome the company while facilitating its accessibility for the reception of economic and industrial activities.



Hence the need to consider in urban and regional development plans the reservation of spaces dedicated to professional land and which would be available for sale or long-term rental at competitive prices.





Improve the Governance of the Enterprise Ecosystem:



The encouragement of free enterprise depends on the good governance of the ecosystem, the existence of a climate of trust guaranteed by justice, neutrality and freedom, and the complementarity of the roles of the state, the school, university, business, banks and associations.



The fight against poverty and precariousness is also a prerequisite for the preparation of a favorable ecosystem because without social peace and without stability, the company is struggling to evolve, as well as the adoption of a competitive monetary and fiscal policy that encourages investment and the creation of the company and the provision of financial and land facilities are in line to improve the ecosystem of the company.



And in the particular case of the self-organization, the dispensation of an adequate ecosystem means the provision of adapted support and qualified training, access to nurseries and home domiciliation and the benefit of the means. co-operative and supportive finance and corporate commitment to mentoring and coaching new entrepreneurs.



The Partnership Approach and Entrepreneurial Complementarity:

The improvement of the ecosystem implies the commitment of the companies in a partnership approach of strategic upgrade of the national economy by the adoption of an integrated approach of the complementarities between the large groups, the big companies, the intermediate companies SMEs, SMIs, SMEs and self-entrepreneurs before qualifying and modernizing the value chain.



Indeed, in all emerging countries the consolidation of the internal market and the encouragement of the consumption of domestic products leave room for a division of labor that benefits all categories of companies who work in a network and in good intelligence to act together and in solidarity to gain a foothold in foreign markets and to face foreign competition in international markets.



But in Morocco the weakness of the domestic market coupled with the fragility of the Moroccan company mean that competition is very tough even on the domestic market which reduces the margin of maneuver of the Moroccan production and challenges it to organize itself differently and fostering a win-win partnership approach with other companies than a losing-losing confrontation that leaves the field open and benefits the foreign company.