Shaping A More Inclusive, Equitable and Sustainable Future

Empowering young people to create a fairer and greener future

When people start businesses, they create income, jobs, and economic growth. Young people are the entrepreneurs of the future and working to solve the greatest challenges of our time. They are reimagining business, bringing new ideas to market, strengthening communities and economies, and building opportunity – not just for themselves, but for us all. 

The world is facing an unprecedented youth employment challenge. Over the last 15 years, the global proportion of young people not in employment, education or training has remained stubbornly high. It’s worse for those who are often discriminated against due to factors including gender, race, and disability. For example it stands at 30 per cent for young women and 13 per cent for young men¹. Even in places where youth unemployment is low, this often masks poor job quality, especially in developing countries². 

The situation has been further exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, which has left young people unemployed in far greater numbers than other adults³. The employment prospects of young women have been hit especially hard⁴. The UN estimates we now need to create 600 million new jobs over the next 15 years to meet the employment needs of young people⁵. 

At the same time, young people worldwide are extremely worried about the future, and the threat posed by climate change⁶ as well as social injustices and rising inequality. They recognise they are living through a time of unprecedented social, economic, and environmental challenge. 

But they are also on the front lines of vital social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter and Fridays for Future. They are quickly adopting new technologies – new ways of connecting and communicating. At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, it was their voices that resonated loudly, demanding a just transition to a more equitable, inclusive, and green global economy.

While there is no doubt that generations of young people will inherit what today seem like intractable problems, they will also create new solutions and opportunities. 

^{Pictured: Herbert Murungi
Rural Environmental Sustainability Initiative (RESI)
Supported by YBI Member: Enterprise Uganda}

YBI believes social and green entrepreneurship can unlock the potential of young people as agents and leaders of change, creating vital economic and employment opportunities in the process. We provide support to youth-led enterprises of all shapes and sizes, with a special focus on the small and micro businesses that sustain livelihoods, provide decent work, and form the backbones of economies around the world. 

In this paper, we explore what social and green entrepreneurship means for YBI. We bring together insights from our commissioned research, our Social Impact Accelerator initiative, our experience of running inclusivity labs, and the insights of our longstanding partner and supporter Accenture. 

We outline what good support looks like for aspiring young social and green entrepreneurs. We use our successful integrated approach — incorporating personal development, business development and facilitating the enabling environment — to anchor our thoughts on the additional needs of young social and green entrepreneurs. We aim to inform learning about how youth-led micro and small businesses can achieve social and green impact.

As we roll out new support for young social and green entrepreneurs, we welcome collaboration and learning. We commit to sharing our experiences, the insights of our members, and, most importantly, the stories, passion, and successes of young entrepreneurs.

^{Pictured: Henry Onyango and client
The Goblin Gym
Supported by YBI Member: Somo, Kenya}

<sup>1. International Labour Organization. “Youth labour statistics.” Accessed December 6, 2021.
2. Ibid.
3. The World Economic Forum. “The pandemic has damaged youth employment: Here’s how we can help.” 15 July 2021.  . Accessed September 28, 2021.
4. Ibid.
5. United Nations. “World Youth Report: Youth Social Entrepreneurship and the 2030 Agenda.”
6. Nature. Young people’s climate anxiety revealed in landmark survey. 22 September 2021. . Accessed 28 September 2021.</sup>

Our integrated approach

YBI’s global approach to supporting young entrepreneurs is grounded in research and learning, and underpinned by human-centred design principles. 

This approach has been developed by, for and with our members over our 20-year history. Members customise our approach for their local context to maximise impact.

The local context is important in the social and green sector. Solutions often need to be local. Many social and green innovations cannot be imported into countries—geography matters. This is because there are usually geography-specific factors that vary, such as the state of infrastructure or the economy.  There could be local variations in materials, technology, value chains, regulations or incentives that could greatly affect a business model and operations. 

Our approach integrates three components to enable the success of young entrepreneurs

Personal Development
building positive mindsets and attitudes through mentoring, soft- and life-skills training, and increasing leadership capabilities. 

Business development
technical training and guidance on how to start and grow a successful business, with on-going aftercare to support the young person long after their initial training has ended. 

Enabling environment facilitation
access to finance markets and networks

We know this approach effectively delivers on the fundamental support needs of young entrepreneurs across sectors, geographies, and business models. Here, we outline how we can build on this approach to account for the particular needs of those with social and green ambitions. 

Sustainability DNA enablers

In addition to its five essential leadership qualities, Accenture has defined a Sustainability DNA: the embedded practices (categorised by enablers) that drive the human connections, intelligence and accountability needed to navigate a rapidly changing world and meet stakeholder expectations.

Human dignity
Champions inclusion, diversity, and equity inside the organisation and beyond.

Tangible empathy
Upholds the rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders.

Open dialogue 
Is consultative and listening by default.

Active resilience 
Shapes workplaces and stakeholder experience to build mental and physical resilience.

Animated purpose
Embeds the organisation’s purpose in all activity.

Dynamic ethics
Takes a systematic approach to upholding and enhancing business ethics.

Planetary boundaries
Elevates good citizenship of Earth’s natural and human environment.

Progressive technology
Harnesses emerging tech to solve problems without creating harmful side effects.

Learning culture
Prepares people for the future world of work through targeted learning and development.

Deep metrics
Analyses inputs, impacts and risks
across multiple time horizons.

^{Source: Accenture Research.}

Impact management and measurement

Social and green enterprises often benefit from measuring their impact in some way – if the business exists to make an impact, an entrepreneur probably wants to know whether it is actually doing so. 

With limited resources, measuring impact can be a vital component of effective planning and strategic decision-making. By figuring out what’s working and what’s not, social and green enterprises can focus their time and effort to where they matter most. Measurement can also be a critical part of risk management, giving sight of potential threats and providing an evidence base for mitigation. 

Externally, an entrepreneur may increasingly need to demonstrate their impact to their stakeholders, particularly as awareness grows of green or impact ‘washing’.  Measuring impact can help ensure accountability and transparency – not only to the team, but also to customers, donors, and beneficiaries. Furthermore, hard metrics may be critical for some certifications, such as carbon credit schemes, while access to grants or impact-related investments will often be contingent on some form of on-going impact measurement. 

There are various forms and degrees of impact management. Some entrepreneurs develop management, monitoring and measurement systems to track and report on performance against defined impact parameters. Others find this too costly or time-intensive, may not see the need, or may not have the necessary skills at the start-up phase. YBI members encourage young entrepreneurs to consider key performance indicators of impact — or else they won’t know if the business has any impact at all.

There is continuing innovation in the field of impact management and measurement. Innovations such as Lean Data for example —  focusing on speed, repeatability, and comparability through phone surveys — can help social and green entrepreneurs capture impact information efficiently and cost-effectively. This, in turn, can help entrepreneurs understand what matters most to their business, their customers and their beneficiaries, and what difference they are making.

YBI and its members match young people with local funding, market opportunities, networks, and other resources to help their business succeed. Our members are embedded in their communities. They are aware of organisations and institutions that can complement their offerings. They leverage these relationships to help young people access low-risk funding opportunities and identify market and partnership opportunities. 

^{Pictured: Manuel Gil
Tierra Inquieta
Supported by YBI Member: Youth Business Spain}

Capital

Access to capital can be crucial to the success or failure of any business. A young person starting a social or green enterprise may face particular difficulties accessing finance, due to:

• risk aversion in the financial sector towards businesses with a social or environmental purpose 
• unsuitability for traditional funding structures due to a conscious decision to balance financial return with social or environmental impact
• lack of understanding of the funding landscape, among both financiers and enterprises, e.g. entrepreneurs not knowing whether to focus on grants, traditional commercial financing, or specialised social or green capital
• lack of access to the right networks and contacts. 

In many ways, the funding needs of social and green enterprises are linked more closely to their stage of development, sector, and geographical location than their cause-driven purpose. They may, however, face some additional considerations, including: 

• the implications of trade-offs between financial sustainability, profitability, and impact – with more focus on impact in some cases meaning less profit or even periodic losses, thus affecting the risk profile of the business as a potential investment
• their ownership structure and legal form, and what this means for access to finance
• the longer timeframe that may be needed to achieve adoption and therefore financial sustainability, particularly if their approach is highly innovative
• increased operational costs from investment in impact measurement activities.

While NGOs have traditionally accessed grants and businesses have accessed loans and equity, social and green enterprises can potentially access all three. In fact, different stages of a social enterprises’ life cycle may require different types of funding, with grant-based or patient capital upfront, followed by more traditional commercial forms. 

There has been significant progress in the nascent field of impact investing, alongside growing opportunities for other forms of innovative impact funding.  Impact investment is often defined by its focus on ‘measurable impact’, regardless of the nature of the investee, while other models, definitions and funds take a keener interest in the recipient of the funding. Our research has found:

• By definition, many social/green business models are more innovative and risky, and less profitable. Yet, over the longer term, their foundations and interconnections can give them greater resilience and longevity. They may therefore need patient capital to thrive. 
• Green economic government policies and several innovative financial mechanisms, such as social or green impact bonds, have been put in place to support social enterprises. Over the coming years, international organisations and impact investors are also expected to increase their investments in social and green enterprises.
• Social enterprises which can demonstrate a viable and sustainable market-based model are more likely to get funding. Investors want to see self-sustaining and scalable models with large potential reach.  

YBI members are critical guides for young social and green entrepreneurs, helping them navigate the funding landscape and signposting appropriate financing opportunities. They can also help educate local financiers on the capital needs of young social and green entrepreneurs. 

Market linkages

Markets for social and green products and services aren’t always straightforward, particularly for new and innovative solutions. In some cases, a young entrepreneur may need to develop the market themselves. This requires partnerships, networks, capitalising and thinking ‘outside the box’ to find new pathways to market and market opportunities. 

YBI members can help young social and green entrepreneurs identify partners and channels, and facilitate introductions.

Similarly, young people may need resources to develop and test their products. This can require connections with universities, labs, innovation centres, and institutes. This is an area where YBI members can create value. In Mozambique, for example, ideiaLab has pursued tech collaborations and partnerships with universities, enabling young entrepreneurs to test, prototype and certify their innovative products.

Building awareness

Social and green entrepreneurship remains a relatively nascent area of youth entrepreneurship. Building awareness is critical to realising its potential. This could include conferences, awareness events, learning initiatives, networking, hackathons and competitions. These events can help to socialise the meaning and importance of social and green entrepreneurship. They can educate and inspire a more vibrant and inclusive ecosystem. 

^{Pictured: Seamstress 
Pistis Threads & Stitches
Supported by YBI Member: Sinapis, Kenya}

YBI's role in driving social green entrepreneurship

YBI’s network of 51 members supports young people in 46 countries, equipping them to build the skills, confidence and connections they need to beat the odds and become successful business owners. 

We support young entrepreneurs with all kinds of dreams and ambitions, across sectors, geographies and social contexts. At our core, we are committed to a social mission: 

• Enabling decent work and transforming prospects and livelihoods of 18-35-year-olds across the globe, and helping these young people build businesses that create employment and benefit local communities.
• Driving inclusivity by actively creating space and access for the hardest to reach youth. We are committed to reaching any young person with a desire to be an entrepreneur, regardless of their identity, background, or circumstances. We remove barriers to access and equitably empower them to develop their skills and realise their business dreams.
• Supporting the next generation of responsible business leaders who look beyond financial value — leaders guided by values, who value their stakeholders and the environment, and who recognise their responsibilities and contributions to building better businesses, markets, communities, and societies.

As we continue to pursue, deepen, and amplify our social mission, we understand the importance of empowering young people to maximise the social value of their businesses. We are committed to supporting them on their path to doing good, and to nurturing those who found their business on an intrinsic social or environmental purpose.

We see the rise of social and green enterprise and the increasing number of young people at its heart. We hear the evolving conversation on sustainable business. We feel the urgency of addressing the climate crisis and inequalities, and the need for businesses to offer solutions to social and environmental problems. 

^{Pictured: Sabiha Islam Bithi & employee
Purnota Craft
Supported by YBI member B’YEAH, Bangladesh}