This document discusses supporting youth entrepreneurship. It notes that about 14% of young people in the EU are NEET (not in education, employment, or training), costing €153 billion per year. Entrepreneurship is less common among youth due to lack of access to finance, skills, contacts, and supportive regulations and institutions. Integrated support packages that provide both funding and skills training tend to be most effective for youth entrepreneurship, but need to consider local conditions. The document advocates for interventions across educational systems and integrated long-term support for young entrepreneurs to help develop sustainable businesses.

1. Contextualizing support
for youth
entrepreneurship
Professor Francis Greene

2. The costs of multiple disadvantage
 Eurofound (2012) estimated that there were
around 14 million (around 14%) young
people in the EU who were NEETs.
 They estimated that the lifetime costs of these
NEETs was about €153 billion or about €3
billion a week
 If 1.4 million were re-integrated into the
labour market, this would save €15 billion
 Youth population bulge in Africa

3.  Entrepreneurship is less likely among young
people (rates in EU are about 5%)
 Obviously varies between countries but men
more than women more likely to be
entrepreneurially active
 Young entrepreneurs are less likely to survive
and grow their business: Nagler and Naudé
(2014) show that labour productivity of young
entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa is much
lower than older entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship take up and
characteristics

4. Barriers to youth entrepreneurship
 Lack of access to finance (e.g. lack a track
record/collateral so struggle to gain debt
finance)
 Lack of skills, knowledge and abilities (e.g.
unaware of their entrepreneurial capacity,
competency and aptitudes)
 Lack of contacts and support (e.g. lack ‘know
how’ contacts, wider support infrastructure)
 Environmental framework conditions
(regulations, institutions, taxation etc)

5. Examples of good practice
 Interventions in the educational system:
Nordic entrepreneurship from ABC to PhD;
 Integrated support:
– World Bank (2013) meta-analysis tends to
suggest that support + finance packages
work best but need to be sensitive to local
conditions

6. Reflections
 Most young people want a job made for them
rather than creating their own…
 Evidence tends to suggest integrated
packages work better
 Issue is not just about creating young
entrepreneurs but supporting them to develop
sustainable businesses