Impact Report 2022
Unleashing the power of youth entrepreneurship as a force for good
In 2022 our Global Network supported over 123,000 young people to develop their entrepreneurship skills.
We are also able to report that 14,923 young people started a business, 35,472 young people strengthened a business and 3,660 young people secured employment.
2022 in numbers
1. Introduction
As the world emerged from the COVID-19 crisis in 2022, we have seen young entrepreneurs around the globe innovate, thrive and work towards solving some of the greatest challenges facing their communities, countries and the planet.
We have focussed our efforts this year on empowering our global network of ESOs (entrepreneurship support organisations) to unleash the power of youth entrepreneurship as a force for good. By building their skills and capabilities and bringing them together to learn from each other and collaborate, we enabled them to deliver more inclusive and impactful youth entrepreneurship support.
Our highlight this year was our Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit in The Hague, The Netherlands, which brought together 188 delegates from 43 countries to exchange knowledge, learnings, and best practices and co-create solutions to common challenges on topics such as green entrepreneurship, decent work, and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
Throughout the year, we delivered a range of training and capacity building to our members. In April, we launched our Green and Social Toolkit to enable our members to better support young entrepreneurs whose business has a green or social purpose. We rolled out our Decent Work Training to our global membership to give members tools to encourage decent work principles in young entrepreneurs’ businesses. In October, we launched our Inclusivity Toolkit, supported by Accenture, and co-created and piloted with YBI members spanning four continents, with support from innovation consultancy InkDot. The toolkit is a powerful resource for our network to put inclusivity into practice.
Inclusivity and green and social entrepreneurship are also at the heart of a range of new programmes we launched in 2022 - from supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada, displaced Ukrainians in Poland and social entrepreneurs in South Korea to co-creating a sustainability toolkit with our members in France, Germany, South Africa, Spain and the UK. We also renewed our Futuremakers programme, supported by Standard Chartered Foundation, which has a particular focus on supporting traditionally disadvantaged business owners including rural and female entrepreneurs, business owners with disabilities and visual impairments, and those excluded from formal financial support.
We continued to establish ourselves as a leading voice in youth entrepreneurship with the publication of two new reports:
Our positioning paper Shaping A More Inclusive, Equitable and Sustainable Future: Supporting young social and green entrepreneurs shares our definition of a green or social enterprise, explores the specific support needs of young green and social entrepreneurs and defines our role in driving social and green youth entrepreneurship.
Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs: What they think, how they work, what sets them apart looks at the differences between entrepreneurial behaviours of those over 35 to those under 35 in the UK and found that entrepreneurs under 35 are more than twice as likely to run a business with a social or green purpose – proving that young entrepreneurs are in fact a force for good.
2. A growing, dynamic, inclusive, global, network
Coming together to learn, collaborate and connect
With a membership of 49 ESOs in 46 countries around the world, our global network boasts a wealth of expertise and experience in youth entrepreneurship support. By bringing our members together to exchange knowledge, learnings and best practices and co-create solutions to common challenges, we strengthen their capacity to support young entrepreneurs – it’s what we call the network effect.
In 2022, we were finally able to bring our network together in person again at our Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit and two Communities of Practice (CoP).
Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2022
Our Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit takes place every two years and brings together our members, young entrepreneurs, partners, mentors, and experts from the entrepreneurship space to learn, collaborate and connect. In October 2022, we hosted our Global Summit in The Hague, The Netherlands, supported by Accenture, to ‘Unleash the Power of Youth Entrepreneurship as a Force for Good’:
- 3 days
- 188 delegates from 43 countries
- 15 panels, breakout sessions and workshops
Key topics of the Summit sessions included green entrepreneurship, ESG, decent work, inclusivity in entrepreneurship, leadership, and access to finance.
Communities of Practice
Our Community of Practice (CoP) events bring members from specific YBI programmes together for multi-day workshops and networking. In 2022, we hosted two CoPs in Nairobi, Kenya and Istanbul, Turkey.
Our Africa Community of Practice in Nairobi, Kenya, supported by Argidius Foundation, brought together 9 of our African members to exchange ideas, experiences and best practices around supporting young green and social entrepreneurs. It also marked the end of our first High Flyers Youth Entrepreneurship programme in Uganda, funded by Argidius Foundation.
Our Futuremakers Community of Practice in Istanbul, Turkey, brought together 8 YBI members and delivery partners from our Futuremakers programme, supported by Standard Chartered Foundation, to share insights, learnings and solutions around access to finance, one of the main barriers holding young people back from starting or growing a business.
Building our network’s skills and capabilities
By creating and sharing resources, tools and training for our members, we increased the quality, impact and reach of their support offers for young entrepreneurs in 2022.
Inclusivity Toolkit
In October 2022, we launched our Inclusivity Toolkit, a powerful resource for our global network to put inclusivity into practice, co-developed with boutique innovation consultancy InkDot and a working group of YBI members and supported by Accenture. During the year, our members Development Solutions (Mongolia), ideiaLab (Mozambique), Habitat (Turkey), MicroLab (Italy), Youth Business Spain, Manq’a (Bolivia), CAP YEI (Kenya), PCS (Palestine), and BYEAH (Bangladesh) co-created and piloted the toolkit, making significant changes to their organisations, including:
- Integrating inclusivity in organisational policies such as staff recruitment and selection
- Adapting trainings and events to meet the needs of underserved populations
- Making digital inclusion a priority for online programmes
- Increasing the representation of youth and women as trustees and in decision-making
In 2023, the Inclusivity Toolkit will be available to all YBI members.
Training for our members
Hello Design Thinking!
Design Thinking is a powerful process of problem-solving that enables organisations to better understand the needs of their beneficiaries, identify gaps and problems and develop innovative products, services and solutions.
In 2022, we delivered our Hello Design Thinking training to two cohorts of 34 YBI members.
“The Hello Design Thinking course was a great programme. As a training coordinator, it helped me to identify different approaches toward executing and facilitating Design Thinking to our young entrepreneurs as this is a core theory in our JumpSTART Incubator programme.”
Jonathan Khan, Training Coordinator, Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago
Growth & Performance Skills (GPS) Training of Trainers (ToT)
Our Growth & Performance Skills (GPS) Training is aimed at promoting and improving entrepreneurial soft skills, such as grit, decision-making, negotiation and more. In 2022, we delivered a Training of Trainers (ToT) version to our members, enabling them to deliver the curriculum themselves and benefit an even larger number of young entrepreneurs.
“Many thanks for this wonderful course. It was a lot of work, but I learnt so much that is relevant and applicable for use in these times and beyond. It was definitely worth the effort and I look forward to sharing this material with our young entrepreneurs in Barbados.”
Marsilyn Browne, Trainer,
Barbados Youth Business Trust
Leadership Series for CEOs
In 2022, we partnered with OverTime Leader, a progressive leadership development agency, to host a series of engaging remote workshops, designed and tailored to the most pressing challenges leaders face today with a focus on how to motivate and retain a team and how to manage delivery with limited resources. 104 participants attended the first three sessions in 2022 and the series continues in 2023.
“I can’t express how grateful I am to YBI for this fantastic opportunity to learn and grow as a better leader. It is remarkable and much needed to learn a variety of tactics from professionals in this field and it gives us the time to work collaboratively and share our experiences and viewpoints together.”
Mitsuhiko Yamazaki,
Director of International Partnerships, ETIC., Japan
Growing our global network
We were delighted to welcome 4 brilliant new members to our global network in 2022.
YCAB Foundation, Indonesia
YCAB Foundation supports underprivileged young people in Indonesia to become self-reliant through economic empowerment and education. YCAB have a particular focus on supporting young women and mothers to overcome generational poverty through entrepreneurship.
Mebala Youth Studios, Botswana
Mebala Youth Studios provides innovative, high impact solutions to youth unemployment in Botswana. Under the slogan ‘Developing Talent and Ambition’, Mebala Youth Studios works for the youth by the youth, aiming to develop the potential and energy of young people to create innovative businesses and employment and lead their communities.
JeCCDO, Ethiopia
JeCCDO’s strategic goals focus on building social businesses as sustainable business models and strengthening entrepreneurial capacity in Ethiopia. Their key values are centred around inclusiveness and entrepreneurial spirit, making them a perfect addition to our network.
ETIC., Japan
ETIC. (Entrepreneurial Training for Innovative Communities.) is one of the largest networks of social change leaders in Japan. ETIC. supports over 1,800 young entrepreneurs through its core incubation programmes and peer-support communities. Their ultimate goal is the establishment of ecosystems where everyone can unleash their entrepreneurial potential.
3. Youth entrepreneurship as a force for good
New programmes to support young entrepreneurs as a force for good
COVID-19 Recovery Programme for social entrepreneurs in Korea, supported by Google.org
Through this new programme in South Korea building on the success of our global Rapid Response & Recovery Programme supported by Google.org, we are working with Korean ESOs Work Together Foundation and Impact Square Inc, who have provided in-depth training and support to underserved social entrepreneurs in South Korea to help them build skills, confidence, and adaptability.
Driving responsible and sustainable businesses led by underserved entrepreneurs, supported by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The programme launched in September 2022 and aims to support 300 micro and small businesses across Germany, France, South Africa, Spain and the UK to become more sustainable and environmentally conscious in their operations. In the first phase of the programme, YBI’s Green and Social Entrepreneurship Lead worked with a sustainability expert and five YBI members – KIZ (Germany), Positive Planet (France), Fetola (South Africa), Youth Business Spain, and Hatch Enterprise (UK) – to co-create a practical sustainability toolkit which will be piloted with 100 young and underserved entrepreneurs in 2023.
Decent Work Training
In 2022, we rolled out our tried and tested Decent Work Training to our global membership. Aimed at programme managers, trainers, coaches and mentors, the training covered decent work principles, such as providing fair wages, health and safety regulations, and paid holiday and sick leave, and how adopting these principles is beneficial to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 5 YBI members from 4 countries completed the training in 2022 and now incorporate decent work training into their support programmes for young entrepreneurs.
Green and Social Entrepreneurship Toolkit
In April 2022, we held our first ever Green and Social Entrepreneurship Month, during which we launched our Green and Social Entrepreneurship Toolkit. The toolkit was co-created with YBI members and is exclusively available to YBI’s global network in English and Spanish. It is full of tried and tested tools YBI members can use to support their young entrepreneurs to develop effective social and green enterprises, as well as guidance on how to use them. After launching the toolkit, we held a series of ‘Training of Trainers’ workshops which served as an introduction to the tools and how to use them. 15 YBI members from 15 countries have participated in the workshops in 2022.
Global Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2022: Purity Gakuo
At our Global Summit in The Hague, we crowned the winner of our Global Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Business for Good Award 2022, Purity Gakuo from Kenya. Purity’s business Kuza Freezer manufactures and distributes affordable, solar-powered freezers to small-scale fishermen in Kenya, enabling them to reduce post-harvest losses and increase their income. So far, Kuza Freezer has reached and improved the livelihoods of over 250 small-scale fishermen. They have also created job opportunities for over 50 women who have started new fish businesses as a result of using their products. Purity has been supported by our member in Kenya, Somo.
As the overall winner of our Global Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Purity received a $10,000 grant to grow her business as well as a trophy and business coaching.
Covid Resilience Award winner: Niranjan Ovhal
Niranjan Ovhal from India was crowned the winner of our Covid Resilience Award 2022. During the national lockdown in India, Niranjan saw a growing demand for video games and lack of affordable, high-quality auto racing games. He decided to harness this opportunity with his business Simforge Engineering by manufacturing affordable hardware to simulate auto racing on PC. Simforge Engineering is now the first and only sim racing gear manufacturer in India and exports to 43 countries. Niranjan has been supported by our member in India, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST).
Green Business of the Year Award winner: Adriana Alegre Génez
Adriana Alegre Génez from Paraguay was crowned the winner of our Green Business of the Year Award 2022. Adriana’s business Asociación Brotes de Mbaracayú, is a collective of 14 women working to increase awareness on sustainability, unemployment and exploitative practices in Villarica, Paraguay. Through the implementation of projects and programmes that promote the efficient use of natural resources, education on the green economy, and training, Adriana fosters the development of rural and semi-urban cities and creates a variety of initiatives to enhance fair trade and generate green jobs. She has been supported by our member in Paraguay, Fundación Paraguaya.
Both, Niranjan and Adriana won a trophy and business coaching support.
4. Accelerating more impact for more young people
New programmes for inclusive youth entrepreneurship support
In 2022, we launched and renewed a range of programmes to accelerate our impact and reach more underserved young entrepreneurs around the world.
Tackling economic inequality with Futuremakers by Standard Chartered
In January 2022, we renewed our partnership with Standard Chartered Foundation and extended our Futuremakers programme for another two years supporting underserved young entrepreneurs in eight countries across Africa, Asia and Europe. Priority is given to traditionally disadvantaged business owners including rural and female entrepreneurs, business owners with disabilities and visual impairments and those excluded from formal financial support. Key focusses of the programme are making entrepreneurship more accessible to people with disabilities and creating better access to finance for underserved young entrepreneurs, with initiatives ranging from financial literacy training for female entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Vietnam to consulting clinics in Nigeria and more.
By the end of 2022, the programme had provided intensive support, including training, advisory support and mentoring to 2,898 young entrepreneurs and reached 30,956 via outreach activities, social media, and other light-touch interventions.
BEST by Futuremakers to support displaced Ukrainians in Poland
In June 2022, YBI and our member, Youth Business Poland, launched BEST (Business Employability Skills Training) by Futuremakers, funded by Standard Chartered. The project supports working-age displaced Ukrainians in Poland to secure employment and start or re-start a business. It includes webinars, mentoring, business mixers, and advisory support. To date, the project has supported 5,343 displaced Ukrainians to develop their business skills, knowledge and career development.
The Ohpikiwin Series, Journey to Financial Empowerment, supported by Accenture
This programme is implemented by YBI’s Canadian member Futurpreneur and supported by Accenture as part of its investment in a more equitable future through its Skills to Succeed initiative. The series aims to build the financial resiliency and business literacy of young Indigenous entrepreneurs across Canada. Working closely with Indigenous consulting firm Indigenuity Consulting Group, the Indigenous community, and Indigenous entrepreneurs, Futurpreneur co-created and co-delivered virtual workshops and in-person training in 2022. YBI plans to share learnings to drive cross-cutting benefits to our wider network, to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion and improve outcomes for Indigenous entrepreneurs.
“Ohpikiwin Series is co-designed in collaboration with Indigenous community leaders and entrepreneurs and delivered in partnership with Youth Business International and Accenture as part of our Indigenous Entrepreneur Startup Program (IESP) to further drive economic inclusion and resilience of Indigenous communities.”
Karen Greve Young,
CEO, Futurpreneur, Canada
High Flyers Programme and Community of Practice supported by Argidius
Our new High Flyers programme and Community of Practice (CoP) launched in November 2022 and brings together 10 YBI members and delivery partners from 8 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America to support ‘high flying’ young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. YBI defines High Flyers as young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 who have been running a business for approximately two years and are looking to grow. In the first phase of the programme, the CoP members submitted their best practices on supporting High Flyers, which are now being collated in a High Flyers support guide.
Revolving loan fund for female entrepreneurs in Kenya, supported by Standard Chartered Foundation
This unique programme launched at the end of 2022 will support low-income entrepreneurs aged 18-35 from marginalised communities in Kenya. It will target 90% female entrepreneurs and 10% entrepreneurs with a majority female workforce. The innovative programme consists of a holistic package of loans and business support services, alongside voluntary support from local Standard Chartered employees in Kenya.
The revolving fund will provide loans between US$1,000-US$25,000 and a 5% interest per annum. Repaid capital will be released in subsequent rounds as a revolving fund, which will then be reused to support additional entrepreneurs. This model will allow entrepreneurs previously excluded from the financial landscape to access capital and grow their businesses into commercially viable and investable models, whilst replenishing the loan fund through repayments for investment in further businesses.
“Somo is excited to provide needed business development and financial access support to female entrepreneurs across Kenya. When we invest in women, we invest in families and communities. Through the support of Standard Chartered Foundation and Youth Business International, we look forward to partnering with more women to create positive change.”
Amelia Hopkins Phillips,
Founder & CEO, Somo, Kenya
Wrapping up two successful programmes
Accelerating Youth-led Business in the Digital Era, supported by IKEA Foundation
In July 2022, we wrapped up our Accelerating Youth-led Businesses in the Digital Era programme in India and Bangladesh, implemented by our members Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) and Bangladesh Youth Enterprise Advice and Helpcentre (BYEAH). Over 3 years, the programme has:
- Supported over 1,200 entrepreneurs to start a business
- Helped over 1,600 entrepreneurs to increase their business knowledge and skills
- Empowered entrepreneurs to create over 8,100 new jobs
The programme consisted of a digital accelerator, supporting young entrepreneurs to develop the digital skills they need to succeed, and decent work training, which primarily took place during 2022. At the end of the programme, over 1,200 entrepreneurs from India and Bangladesh had completed decent work training and reported intention to implement decent work principles in their business.
SOS Mentoring to support youth-run businesses during COVID-19, supported by Enel Group
In July we wrapped up our SOS Mentoring programme with Enel Group, which saw a total of 131 Enel volunteer mentors matched with young entrepreneurs from seven countries. The mentors provided over 2,900 hours of volunteering and 95% of the young entrepreneurs who received the mentoring support reported that it helped them improve their ability and confidence to manage risks and uncertainty in their business. 98% of Enel volunteer mentors said they would recommend the programme to their colleagues.
“My mentoring experience has been enriching, productive and fun. Supporting my mentee to make a change, increase his confidence, grow his business, and reach his goals has given me great satisfaction. I absolutely recommend it.”
Enrique Cortesi,
Enel Volunteer Mentor, Chile
5. The Leading Voice for Youth Entrepreneurship
‘Shaping A More Inclusive, Equitable and Sustainable Future: Supporting young social and green entrepreneurs’
Our positioning paper on green and social entrepreneurship, supported by Accenture, shares YBI’s definition of a green or social enterprise, explores the specific support young green and social entrepreneurs need to succeed and defines our role in driving social and green youth entrepreneurship.
'Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs: What they think, how they work, what sets them apart'
This report was produced by YBI in partnership with The Entrepreneurs Network and with support from Accenture. Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs looks at the differences in entrepreneurial behaviours of those over 35 to those under 35 in the UK. Based on extensive polling of UK business owners, the report uncovers how they operate their businesses and what sets them apart, indicating the ways the younger generation run their businesses has changed dramatically in recent years. One of the key findings is that entrepreneurs under 35 are more than twice as likely to say their business’s primary aim is to solve a social or environmental problem (39% vs 18%).
We launched the report in The House of Lords in October 2022, with speeches from YBI’s CEO Anita Tiessen, MP Stoke-on-Trent Central, Jo Gideon, Jill Huntley, Managing Director – Growth & Strategy, Corporate Citizenship at Accenture, and young entrepreneur, Sophia Ukor , founder of Violet Simon, who is supported by our UK member Hatch Enterprise.
YBI also participated in a green and social panel discussion at the ANDE Annual Conference (September) and engaged with potential partners about inclusive refugee entrepreneurship at the Global Refugee Entrepreneurship Network Conference (October).
6. Looking ahead
Young entrepreneurs are agents of change and youth entrepreneurship is a critical lever for economic recovery and resilience and a driving force towards a just, fair and greener future for us all. But despite this enormous potential, entrepreneurship remains out of reach for millions of young people. And that’s where Youth Business International comes in.
We are going into 2023 with a new strategy to increase our impact and reach more young entrepreneurs. Our strategic goals for 2023 – 2025 are:
Accelerate more impact for more young people: YBI aims to create 1 million jobs by supporting the start-up or growth of 250,000 youth-led businesses.
Encourage youth entrepreneurship as a force for good: YBI aims to inspire more inclusive, responsible youth-led businesses focused on solving social, economic and environmental problems.
Build a growing, dynamic, inclusive network: YBI aims to grow our global network of expert entrepreneurship support organisations.
Become the leading voice for youth entrepreneurship: YBI aims to be the leading voice for youth entrepreneurship, influencing the ecosystem to invest in jobs and business creation for young people.
In 2023, we are working towards making our existing support offers for young entrepreneurs more inclusive and accessible to groups who are facing additional barriers or have been traditionally excluded from entrepreneurship, such as women, people with disabilities, the LGBTQIA + community, refugees and migrants, and Indigenous peoples. We have already launched a range of new initiatives to drive this work forward, including our Indigenous Entrepreneurship Working Group and a series of inclusivity webinars, e.g. on gender programming. We will continue our current programmes focussed on supporting displaced Ukrainians in Poland, Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada, and social entrepreneurs in South Korea, among others.
We are continuing to drive our green and social entrepreneurship agenda by launching our second dedicated Green and Social Month in April 2023. As part of this, we are hosting a series of online events with key stakeholders in green and social entrepreneurship, exploring its current state, challenges and opportunities and YBI’s role in driving it forward. We are also running a 12-month pilot to co-create the final iteration of our Green and Social Toolkit with our members to better support young green and social entrepreneurs.
We are actively recruiting new members to expand our geographical reach in 2023 and have already welcomed two new members to our global network at the start of the year – ONOW in Myanmar and Fetola in South Africa. We are looking to increase member collaboration across our network by launching a new member-to-member learning series and starting to plan our next Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit which will take place in 2024. Additionally, we are increasing our engagement in multilateral events, business fora, and with ecosystem actors this year, to advance our ambition of becoming a leading voice in youth entrepreneurship and advocate for more investment and support for youth-led businesses.
We look forward to 2023 as a year of accelerating more impact for more young people, growing our global network and empowering young entrepreneurs around the world as a force for good.
7. About Youth Business International
Established in 2000, YBI leads a global network of entrepreneurship support organisations (our network of members). This gives us a unique perspective on youth entrepreneurship across the world.
By combining Network expertise and insights with independent research, YBI identifies gaps, generates learnings and new tools, and shares knowledge of ‘what works’ to support young entrepreneurs to start, scale and sustain successful businesses.
Over the last 20 years, YBI’s Network of not-for profit expert entrepreneurship support organisations has supported almost 1 million young people to start or grow over 265,000 businesses. YBI offers three things to organisations within our Network:
1. A platform to connect with peers to exchange ideas, knowledge and insights.
2. Opportunities to collaborate to develop and scale effective solutions to the critical challenges facing young entrepreneurs.
3. Relevant and impactful content that improves the quality of their service delivery, which in turn improves outcomes for aspiring and existing young entrepreneurs.
Where we work
Thank you to our partners
Finances
Total income figure: £6119k
- Charitable activities: £5268k
- Grants and donations: £249k
- The forward reserves, and of which were unreserved: £3486k of which £2098k were unreserved
Total expenditure figure: £4988k
- Cost of raising funds: £164k
- Charitable activities: £4988k
- Membership services and engagement: £594k
- Programme and business development: £3944k
- Learning and influence: £286k
Connect with us
Get to know us better. Follow us on Instagram, 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.