Impact Report 2021
Empowering young entrepreneurs
as a force for recovery
In 2021 our Network supported over 141,000 young people to develop their entrepreneurship skills.
We are also able to report that 18,014 young people started a business, 38,236 young people strengthened a business and 16,698 young people secured employment.
Young people received support from the YBI Network
1. Introduction
In 2021, COVID-19 continued to present challenges for young entrepreneurs globally. Business recovery from the economic crisis proved incredibly challenging.
Young entrepreneurs needed the emotional resilience and confidence in their entrepreneurial abilities to ‘build back stronger’ in a post-pandemic world. It was inspiring and impressive to see the entrepreneurs supported by our network face these challenges with grit and determination.
With every challenge comes opportunity for learning, insights and improvements and in 2021, YBI published two landmark reports.
Following our Rapid Response and Recovery Programme with Google.org, which spanned 2020 and 2021, we launched our report Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response & Recovery Programme. Our expertise in supporting 105,458 businesses to survive the initial impacts of the pandemic allowed us to identify six key areas of future support that will ensure entrepreneurs have the emotional resilience, agility, and resources to allow them to manage their businesses through crisis, harness new opportunities and cope with other future shocks.
We also released our flagship report Entrepreneurship Within Reach. The report emphasises the urgent need for youth entrepreneurship. It highlights the rising unemployment rate for young people, which is increasing at a faster rate in low- and middle-income countries, and the worsening effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights how marginalised groups are disproportionately affected.
The report presents an integrated approach to youth entrepreneurship support, consisting of three components:
1. Personal development
2. Business development
3. Enabling environment facilitation.
A key focus in 2021 was a strategic shift to providing bespoke support for young entrepreneurs whose business has a green or social mission. We launched social impact accelerators alongside a green and social toolkit to ensure our members are best placed to help the next generation of entrepreneurs ‘build back stronger’.
Lastly, 2021 was also the start of a new and exciting era that saw the appointment of YBI’s new Board Chair, Head of Google for Startups UK and leading female entrepreneur, Marta Krupinska:
“There is no time more important to invest in young entrepreneurs than now, and I can’t wait to collaborate with the YBI team and network on this important work.”
Marta Krupinska - YBI Board Chair, Head of Google for Startups UK and leading female entrepreneur
2. Our ongoing COVID-19
crisis response
With many entrepreneurs needing support after national lockdowns were lifted, our programme with Standard Chartered Foundation’s Futuremakers initiative supported 10,302 young entrepreneurs in seven countries across Africa, Asia and Europe in accessing webinars, business clinics, mentoring and coaching. Many underrepresented groups were reached.
For example, in Indonesia, YCAB Foundation’s business chatbot reached 6,689 entrepreneurs by September, with 60% being female.
Case study - Susan Akello, Uganda
Susan Akello, Founder of her own Piggery, Uganda, Supported by Cordaid Uganda
Susan Akello, Founder of her own Piggery, Uganda, Supported by Cordaid Uganda
Due to COVID-19 restrictions and their economic fallout, 32-year-old piggery owner Susan Akello from Northern Uganda was forced to sell 17 of her 27 pigs to be able to afford feed for the rest. This was a huge setback for the single mother of two who relies on the piggery to pay for her children’s education.
To help Susan get through this rough patch, our member Cordaid Uganda provided her with a hardship grant, funded through our programme with Futuremakers by Standard Chartered Foundation. The UGX (Ugandan shilling) 1,200,000 Susan received enabled her to move her piggery to a larger property and increase the number of pigs on her farm. Susan believes that this has set her business up for further growth. She says: “I expect that since my business now has room for growth, I will make enough money from my expanded business plan to hire more staff.”
Susan is one of 300 young entrepreneurs from the Nebbi and Lira districts in Northern Uganda who have benefitted from recovery grants under Cordaid’s COVID-19 Agribusiness Recovery project to date, funded through our programme with Standard Chartered Foundation.
YBI partnered with Enel Group to provide mentoring to youth-led businesses that were vulnerable to permanent closure due to the impact of COVID-19. Our SOS Mentoring Programme in Chile, Colombia, Peru and Spain matched 104 Enel volunteer mentors with mentees. As a result, 102 businesses were still trading at the end of the programme.
"I believe in the power of sharing experiences and passions to make a positive impact in a young entrepreneur’s life. Based on mutual trust and respect I want to motivate my mentee and provide concrete support"
Rossella Naolano, ENEL Volunteer Mentor
Our Rapid Response and Recovery Programme with Google.org was wrapped up in our report Refocus, Reset, Retool, which reflected upon the 375,588 entrepreneurs reached through helplines, websites and videos to keep them informed about how to manage the crisis and access government aid. 145,738 entrepreneurs accessed in-depth services, with 77% reporting improved skills to manage challenges and 40% successfully improved resilience. As a result, 92,803 jobs were maintained.
“As startups across the globe continue to grapple with the adverse effects of COVID-19, Google staff played a key role in advising our startups on how to digitalise and adapt operations under pandemic conditions.”
Katrina Rausa Chan, Executive Director of QBO Innovation Hub, Philippines
Case study -Oktavia Ika Rahman, Indonesia
Oktavia Ika Rahman, Founder of Basreng Ali, Indonesia, Supported by YCAB Foundation
Oktavia Ika Rahman, Founder of Basreng Ali, Indonesia, Supported by YCAB Foundation
Oktavia is an entrepreneur from North Jakarta, Indonesia, who started selling food online in 2016. When the pandemic struck, the number of online merchants grew, meaning Oktavia faced an influx of competitors, resulting in a decline in profit.
With the help of our member YCAB Foundation in Indonesia, Oktavia accessed financial advice, learning how to separate personal and business finances and track expenses and income. In addition, Oktavia was taught how to create a logo and navigate social media, resulting in her becoming a registered merchant.
The marketing support Oktavia received has caused an increase in customers, orders and profits. This now means Oktavia has bigger dreams for her business, exploring new advertising platforms to promote her food, "the training has awakened me- now I can develop my marketing, so more people will recognise my product."
Reimo Peters, Founder of Reimos Brauwerk, Germany, Supported by KIZ SINNOVA (KIZ)
Reimo Peters, Owner of Reimos Brauwerk, Germany, Supported by KIZ SINNOVA (KIZ)
Rebecca Page, Founder of Rebecca Page Ltd, United Kingdom, Supported by Hatch
Rebecca Page, Founder of Rebecca Page Ltd, United Kingdom, Supported by Hatch
Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response and Recovery Programme
Our report ‘Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response & Recovery Programme’, shares learnings and insights from our Rapid Response and Recovery Programme, in collaboration with Google.org and 34 of our network members and delivery partners.
The report identifies six key areas of future support that will ensure entrepreneurs have the emotional resilience, agility, and resources to allow them to build back stronger, harness new opportunities and cope with other future shocks:
1. Building emotional resilience
2. Stimulating and supporting business pivots
3. Enabling digital solutions
4. Linking entrepreneurs and private sector actors
5. Enable entrepreneurs to access finance
6. Invest in and develop fully inclusive outreach and programmes
entrepreneurs reached through helplines, websites, and videos
3. Green and social entrepreneurship
Supporting green and social entrepreneurship was a key focus of 2021.
As part of our partnership with Accenture, we launched social impact accelerators with our members Somo (Kenya), Qredits (Netherlands) and Sky’s The Limit (USA). We ran ‘Future-focused Social Entrepreneurship’ training and a total of 309 entrepreneurs and 119 coaches participated.
Jagadeesh Palraj, Founder of Jaga Enterprises, India, Supported by Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST)
Jagadeesh Palraj, Founder of Jaga Enterprises, India, Supported by Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST)
Nearly 80% of entrepreneurs supported by Sky’s The Limit had a type of social impact as a goal for their business or business idea. To continue this work, we brought together a working group of six members Somo and CAP YEI in Kenya, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) in India, ideiaLab in Mozambique, and Habitat in Turkey to combine the learnings and outcomes from the Social and Green Impact Accelerator with our landscape research on social & green entrepreneurship to create a toolkit that can be adopted by members wanting to support social and green entrepreneurs.
We also prepared a green and social entrepreneurship workshop to be delivered at our third Africa Community of Practice in March 2022, funded by Argidius Foundation, with our African members. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss and discover challenges, existing solutions and new ideas in supporting young green and social entrepreneurs.
“Young green and social entrepreneurs will play a vital role in solving some of the greatest environmental and social challenges of our time. By reconciling profit with purpose, they are redefining what it means to run a successful business and shaping a more sustainable and equitable world for us all. It is crucial that we as a network understand their needs and provide the right support for them to succeed.”
Anita Tiessen, CEO, Youth Business International (YBI)
Case study - Fatiha Islam, Bangladesh
Fatiha Islam, Founder of JUCOF, Bangladesh, Supported by Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice and Helpcentre (B'YEAH)
Fatiha Islam, Founder of JUCOF, Bangladesh, Supported by Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice and Helpcentre (B'YEAH)
24-year-old Fatiha Islam’s business JUCOF manufactures bags, gift items and clothing made from biodegradable and sustainably grown Jute, a traditional crop of Bangladesh. Jute cultivation cleanses the air, requires less fertilizer than other crops and improves soil texture. It also plays a vital role for the rural economy of Bangladesh. Higher demand for Jute creates more employment and development in rural areas of the country. These are all reasons why Jute is Fatiha’s material of choice. She says “I sell Jute products to reduce the use of plastic materials – this will be a blessing for the environment. I believe it is our duty to ensure that the next generation can live a safe and healthy life in a clean environment.”
Our local member B’YEAH supported Fatiha with e-commerce training which enabled her to advertise and sell her products online and gain more customers.
4. Building an inclusive network
It’s crucial for YBI to be a champion of inclusivity to ensure even the hardest-to-reach entrepreneurs have access to the support they need to succeed.
Powered by our partnership with Accenture, YBI ran inclusivity labs and with innovation consultancy InkDot and 13 members, we have developed an inclusivity toolkit to help members develop plans to be more inclusive. The toolkit was piloted by MicroLab (Italy), Development Solutions (Mongolia), ideiaLab (Mozambique) and Habitat (Turkey).
With the aim to ‘build back stronger,’ our partner IKEA Foundation funded our decent work training to support building the next generation of responsible businesses and leaders. The training helped six members develop training content on decent work principles, such as how to provide fair wages and a safe working environment. We are now working with our member Aliança Empreendedora (Brazil) on training videos to share with the whole network.
“In BYST’S Decent Work training, I learned how damaging discrimination in the workplace is to a business and best practices to avoid it. I’ve also implemented COVID-19 safety measures”
Vijayalakshmi Pareek, Founder of M/s Gurukripa Enterprises, India
Sirine Houara, Founder of Maison Beca, France, Supported by Positive Planet
Sirine Houara, Founder of Maison Beca, France, Supported by Positive Planet
Djamel Baunens and René Estival, Founders of SAS PPI, France, Supported by ADIE
Djamel Baunens and René Estival - Founders of SAS PPI France (ADIE)
Launching our flagship report ‘Entrepreneurship within reach: Connecting young people to opportunity’
In September 2021, we launched our flagship report ‘Entrepreneurship within reach: Connecting young people to opportunity’, which uses our 20 years of experience in youth entrepreneurship to establish what works and exactly what is needed for inclusive and impactful support. The report explains our integrated approach to youth entrepreneurship support, which consists of three pillars:
1. Personal development: building positive mindsets and attitudes via mentoring, soft and life skills training, and increasing leadership capabilities
2. Business development: technical training, guidance on how to start and grow a successful business, and ongoing aftercare
3. Enabling environment facilitation: access to finance and markets. Read the full report here.
5. Building our network’s skills and capabilities
Digital Accelerator Pilot Member, Development Solutions, Mongolia
Digital Accelerator Pilot Member, Development Solutions, Mongolia
Digital Accelerator Pilot Member, Jinishian Memorial Foundation, Armenia
Digital Accelerator Pilot Member, Jinishian Memorial Foundation, Armenia
To support even more young entrepreneurs to ‘build back stronger’ post-pandemic, we launched our Growth and Performance Skills (GPS) Training of Trainers (ToT), a training curriculum on entrepreneurial soft skills to improve the quality and impact of the support provided to young entrepreneurs.
So far, six members have completed the training and more sessions will be offered in 2022.
Our Digital Accelerator programme helping members to digitalise their operations and services in order to reach more entrepreneurs, has so far been completed by 13 of our members.
A scalable self-service model is being piloted to offer to all members in 2022 with Development Solutions (Mongolia) and Jinishian Memorial Foundation (Armenia) being the first members to go through the pilot.
Development Solutions (Mongolia) focused on creating a chatbot to help provide services to young entrepreneurs in remote and hard-to-reach areas. Additional funding has been provided to adapt the chatbot to make it accessible to young entrepreneurs with auditory and visual disabilities.
6. Networking and collaborating for impact
Our High Flyers programme, funded by Argidius Foundation, held workshops throughout the year for our African members on topics including digitising curriculums and how to support entrepreneurs remotely.
We also conducted our GPS training of trainers to support members to teach soft skills to their entrepreneurs to help them deal with the effects of the pandemic.
As we know, mentoring can be the difference between a business succeeding or not, and the hardworking volunteer mentors giving up their time to support young entrepreneurs deserve to be rewarded and celebrated. In November 2021, we kickstarted YBI’s International Mentoring Days, a series spread across six regions to identify regional mentors and finalists for YBI’s Global Mentor of the Year Award 2021. Awarded by Marta Krupinska, YBI’s Chair and Head of Google for Startups UK, Caxton Njuki from Sweden was crowned Global Mentor of the Year 2021. Working with our Swedish member NyföretagarCentrum, Caxton makes a phenomenal mentor and an inspiring ambassador for mentoring.
“I found my purpose and it’s to give back”
Caxton Njuki - Global Mentor of the Year 2021
Caxton came to Sweden in 1987 as a refugee from Uganda and, after receiving mentoring himself, developed a passion for giving back. At our Global Mentor of the Year Award, his mentee Jessika Sillanpää, founder of Jessikasstory, shared how Caxton motivated her to believe in herself and her vision and helped her, in her words, to “go from wanting to make a difference to actually being able to make a difference”.
The top 3 value adds for being part of the network in 2021, according to members, were*:
Member services (training, toolkits, webinars)
Opportunities for new partnerships and programmes
Being able to share knowledge, experiences and best practices with other members
*According to 42 members who responded to our annual member survey
7. Looking ahead
As the travel restrictions of the pandemic begin to subside, we are excited to be able to get together as a Network in person.
From our Africa Community of Practice in the spring, to Futuremakers’ in-person Collective Action meetings in the summer, we know how important is to our members to be able to foster face-to-face learning and collaboration.
The highlight of 2022 will be YBI’s first in-person Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit since Cartagena in 2019.
The Summit is the Network’s flagship event, which brings together leading experts, influencers and decision-makers in youth entrepreneurship. It is a space for YBI members to connect with game-changers and sector innovators through workshops and facilitated discussions to explore, ideate, collaborate, and generate new approaches that respond to the ever-changing needs, challenges and aspirations of young entrepreneurs globally.
Marion Ngoya, Founder of Lingo Styles, Nairobi, Kenya, Supported by Somo
Marion Ngoya, Founder of Lingo Styles, Nairobi, Kenya, Supported by Somo
We look forward to continuing our focus on promoting green and social businesses, as a contribution to a sustainable and equitable world. A highlight of this will be Green and Social Month in April which will see a series of regional member workshops on green and social entrepreneurship to leverage our global network’s experience and expertise in this area. We will also be launching our Green and Social Entrepreneurship Toolkit, a collection of useful resources and tools exclusively available to our members, as well as our green and social entrepreneurship positioning paper, defining our role in this space.
Part of YBI’s mission to reach as many young entrepreneurs as possible with meaningful support includes growing and strengthening our Network. 2022 will see a membership fee launched for the first time and as we strive to be value for money and grow the network, we look forward to welcoming new members.
Jackline Njeru, Founder of Pistis Threads & Stitches, Kenya, Supported by Sinapis
Jackline Njeru, Founder of Pistis Threads & Stitches, Kenya, Supported by Sinapis
We will continue to promote inclusive entrepreneurship and will be launching specific programmes targeting groups with additional barriers into business. This includes the renewal of the Futuremakers’ MSME Development Programme supported by Standard Charted Foundation which aims to support economic inclusion for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners across seven countries. We are also launching country-specific responses with two of our partners for the first time. In South Korea, a programme with Google.org will provide specific support to women-led SMEs and social enterprises, which have been exceptionally vulnerable to challenges caused by COVID-19.
Over the past year, our members, mentors and young entrepreneurs continued to demonstrate extraordinary talent, tenacity, creativity and commitment. We look forward to growing our network, meeting more members face-to-face and driving inclusive entrepreneurship to help young entrepreneurs to be a force for good in 2022 and the years that follow.
8. About Youth Business International
When young people become entrepreneurs, they unlock income generation, job creation and economic growth.
Yet, for too many young people, starting a business feels out of reach, exclusive and unavailable to them.
Established in 2000, YBI brings together organisations to develop and scale the most effective solutions to the critical challenges facing young entrepreneurs, and to drive positive change in entrepreneurship culture.
Our network supports young people around the world to start, grow and sustain businesses, leveraging entrepreneurship to create decent work and drive inclusive economic growth, whilst transforming livelihoods and strengthening communities.
Our efforts are particularly focused on unlocking the potential of disadvantaged young people, equipping them to build the skills, confidence and connections they need to beat the odds and become successful business owners.
Since 2014, we have supported 239,584 young people to start or grow a business by delivering a range of entrepreneurship support services, from training and mentoring to access to finance and other business development services.
Our values are embedded in everything we do
Tenacity - We won’t give up until every young entrepreneur has the opportunity to succeed.
Collaboration – We work together as a team, building trust to connect and empower.
Quality - We strive to set the highest standards in youth entrepreneurship support.
Where we work
Our member organisations are passionate about supporting young people to start, build and grow their businesses. We empower them to innovate and scale their work by facilitating collaboration on local, regional and global levels.
Thank you to our partners
Finances
Total income:
- Charitable activities: £2345K
- Grants and donations: £437K
- The forward reserves, of which were unreserved: £2,354K, of which £1,359K were unrestricted
Total expenditure:
- Cost of raising funds: 195K
- Charitable activities: £3,852K made up of:
- Membership services and engagement: £832K
- Programme and business development: £2,396K
- Learning and influence: £623K
Connect with us
Get to know us better. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube to learn about our network and its members, upcoming events, opportunities to get involved and more. Or if you have any questions, compliments or complaints, we'd love to hear from you at info@youthbusiness.org.
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