The world’s population is growing at a time when traditional, stable labour markets are shrinking. More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 24 years of age and nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population is below the age of 20. The ILO estimates that 47 per cent of all unemployed persons globally are young women and men and 660 million young people will either be working or looking for work in 2015.
Decent and productive work for youth was always an important issue for the ILO and it became a commitment of the Millennium Declaration adopted by the Heads of State in a situation where reducing youth unemployment becomes one of the most difficult challenges for the future. To provide valuable advice to governments, the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan created the Youth Employment Network (YEN) together with the World Bank and the ILO which also functions as Secretariat for the network.
The present paper with the findings of the research on “Stimulating Youth Entrepreneurship: Barriers and Incentives to Enterprise Start-ups by Young People” continues the SEED Series on Youth and Entrepreneurship initiated in 2003 by a research on awareness and promotion programmes in formal and non-formal education entitled “Facilitating Youth Entrepreneurship”, thus contributing to the knowledge about creation of youth employment opportunities through entrepreneurship development.
Becoming owner of a micro or small enterprise could be an alternative for a young person who has an entrepreneurial mindset but also possesses some basic requirements like skills and knowledge. Awareness about this career option, and the given enabling environment for enterprise creation, play a crucial role for a successful start-up.
However, little research has been made until now on young entrepreneurs and the specific barriers, on the one hand, and incentives on the other, when starting their own enterprise. This paper helps to shed more light on the process of starting and running an enterprise by young women or men, and also to give informed recommendations to governments that want to use the employment creation potential of enterprises for young people themselves and for others.