This report is an evaluation of the actions and approaches taken over the past two decades to assist young entrepreneurs. The learnings embedded in this report demonstrate how their global approach is underpinned by human-centred design principles that are customised to the local context to optimise impact on young entrepreneurs.

This note illustrates how AI can support post-secondary learning across the entire tertiary and vocational education sector in emerging markets.

This report presents a first diagnostic of Africa’s gender gap in financing early-stage ventures in the digital economy (start-ups). The report’s findings indicate that since 2013, only 3 percent of total funding for Africa’s tech start-ups went to all-female founding teams, compared with 76 percent of funding for all-male teams. The report’s analysis shows that female founders are underrepresented in the sectors that attract the most financing; however, even those all-female teams that are working in sectors with high investor interest remain less likely to receive financing than all-male teams, and they receive smaller amounts if they do. Male and female entrepreneurs in the report’s sample also followed different financing paths: female founders were less likely to pitch for equity investments; conversely, they were more likely to apply for bank loans, or to prefer growth from retained earnings.

This publication draws lessons and good practices from entrepreneurship development models and incubation centres designed for the youth in Indonesia. It explores the incubation centres in the country's three public higher education institutions and an entrepreneurship training model facilitated by a Swiss–Indonesian start-up accelerator program. Recommendations focus on strengthening similar programs in other universities, such as management and resources, financial sustainability, mentorship and training, business services and facilities, graduation and post-incubation, and documentation and evaluation.

This report seeks to focus attention on the challenges that Africa’s women entrepreneurs face and identify practical solutions. The report draws on new, high-quality, household and firm-level data to present the clearest evidence to date about the barriers to growth and profitability faced by women entrepreneurs. It goes beyond looking at contextual, endowment and household restrictions in isolation, and, through deep-dive analysis, uncovers new evidence on how social norms, networks and household-level decision making contribute to business performance. It analyzes how they are linked to each other and to women’s strategic business decisions.

This is the first large-scale use of platform data in the region to inform the extent of women’s participation on e-commerce and how online platforms can benefit women business owners. Developed in partnership with the European Commission, with funding from the Umbrella Fund for Gender Equality and data from one of the region’s largest platforms, Lazada, the report shows that closing earnings gaps between men and women on e-commerce platforms could add over $280 billion to the value of the regional e-commerce market. Achieving such gains will require proactive efforts by e-commerce platforms, investors and policymakers, to not only increase the number of women selling online, but also support their growth, including entry into higher-value segments on e-commerce platforms.

The report explores how entrepreneurship support organizations (ESOs) and other stakeholders can help youth move (refugees and other migrants and displaced youth) fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams and ambitions —creating decent work, driving inclusive economic growth, strengthening communities, and transforming prospects and livelihoods.

The blog highlights the World Bank's strategy aims at creating economic opportunities for MENA’s youth by opening-up business environments for young entrepreneurs to compete in free and fair markets for the provision of goods and services.
 

The Rapid Response and Recovery Program was launched by YBI offering COVID-19 focused services in 65 countries to support entrepreneurs across the globe to deal with the unique challenges presented by the pandemic and accompanying lockdowns and social distancing measures. The report highlights what has been implemented to date and pulls together learning and recommendations for best practice in response and recovery in 2021. 

The objectives of this study were to (i) assess the participation of youth in fisheries and aquaculture, including opportunities and challenges for participation, (ii) understand what WorldFish and key partners (government organizations, nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] and others) are doing in the focal countries in relation to youth participation, and (iii) provide potential areas for further research that could support improved youth participation in aquaculture, small-scale fisheries, and value chains.

This report seeks to contribute to understanding how youth social entrepreneurship can both support youth development and help accelerate the implementation of the SDGs. To do so, the report synthesizes the current discussion on social entrepreneurship and anchors it in the context of the 2030 Agenda. The report then turns toward the youth situation and examines whether social entrepreneurship can offer employment opportunities and support other elements of youth development, such as youth participation. 

This manual guides business development practitioners, the donor community, and other developmental experts wishing to implement an intervention to support and strengthen women growth-oriented entrepreneurs. It is specifically geared to practitioners wishing to improve their understanding of challenges specific to women entrepreneurs and practical ways of addressing these.

Using data collected from microenterprises in Gaborone, Botswana, this paper finds that women who cross over into male dominated sectors make higher profits and grow larger firms in terms of number of employees compared to women who operate businesses in female-concentrated sectors.

This report presents a desk review of the financing gap, constraints and policies related to the MSME financing in Bangladesh. It aims to provide relevant policy recommendations thereby presenting an opportunity to address these financing challenges.

This is a stocktake summarizing evidence on “what works” in youth employment programs on both the supply and demand side. This paper is based on an extensive desk literature review and analyzes the major meta-analysis and literature reviews on both the labor demand side and labor supply.

This guide aims to provide general guidance to project managers and project teams on the design and implementation of integrated, cross-sectoral youth employment programs. Governments and development institutions too often implement activities and programs that target either the supply side or the demand side of the labor market without coordination or an explicit intent to create linkages that will maximize the impact of their interventions and improve job opportunities for youth.

This guide provides evidence-based operational principles for teams working on women’s entrepreneurship, including resources to build the business case for supporting women-owned businesses and start-ups; to develop a framework for support programs for women-owned businesses, and to share insights from case studies and results.

This report outlines a framework for the soft skills young entrepreneurs need now and in the future to better navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing job market. This research report literature review and interviews with expert, youth-focused organizations around the world. 

Mentoring is often an essential part of the support package that organizations provide to entrepreneurs and is a vital ingredient in their success. This report explores young people's business start-ups and development and identifies successes and failures and innovative approaches used in mentoring young entrepreneurs.

This handbook shares best practices and experiences for the benefit of youth entrepreneurship practitioners, covering a range of areas: Outreach and Entrepreneur Selection, Training, Mentoring, Access to Finance, Access to Markets & Business Support and Aftercare Services.