Youth Business International (YBI)

In this paper, Youth Business International (YBI) and Somo, YBI’s member organisation in Kenya, shine a light on the important role of informal businesses in sub-Saharan Africa and the barriers they face that prevent them from scaling up, with a particular focus on women-led informal businesses in Kenya. It includes recommendations for governments, financial institutions, and development agencies on ways to increase access to finance for informal businesses.

Financial health for young entrepreneurs means that they are aware of and able to access appropriate resources required to start and grow their enterprises, can manage their business finances, and have confidence in their financial future. Youth Business International (YBI) and ten of its member organizations from Africa, Asia and Europe have developed an evidence-informed approach that can systematically improve how young entrepreneurs can be supported to access appropriate financial services and products.

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.

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 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. 

This report summarises the digital landscape and the main digital support sources for young entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean and identifies opportunities in these markets.

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.

This report reviews experiences and success factors in scaling entrepreneurship programs and provides case studies of models for replication together with a scaling framework. This report provides a set of recommendations covering key approaches to scale, including Buiding strategic alliances, Harnessing digital solutions, Diversifying business models & Promoting innovation and impact.

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.