Youth Entrepreneurship

Young people face particular challenges in exercising their right to work, which leads to high rates of youth unemployment. Entrepreneurship, being a self-employment activity, can help youth become economically independent and, at the same time, contribute to economic growth and job creation.

Youth entrepreneurship alone, however, is not a solution to youth unemployment, but it can be seen as an important complement to broader youth employment and other policies.

In depth…

While young people have a growing interest in self-employment, they face numerous barriers often preventing them from realizing their entrepreneurship potential. These barriers are explained, among others, by the following factors:

• Lack of awareness of youth potential for entrepreneurship results in a lack of encouragement or even negative social attitudes.
• Education and training programmes generally do not do enough to nurture entrepreneurial attitudes and skills.
• Lack of previous work and entrepreneurial experience is a major factor impeding business creation and the effectiveness of entrepreneurial activity.
• Fewer financial resources and difficulty obtaining external finance, including debt finance, hampers business start-up.
• Limited business networks and business-related social capital have negative consequences for starting a business and gaining legitimacy.
• Market barriers, including a bias in financial markets against supporting youth-owned businesses and “discrimination” in product markets.

To address these barriers, comprehensive measures and programmes should be implemented at multiple levels, including those aimed at promotion of entrepreneurship culture, inclusion of entrepreneurship education at different education levels, improvement of the legal and regulatory environment, improving access to affordable finance and introducing business development services and support schemes.