Youth entrepreneurs: How they differ and ways to support them

Youth entrepreneurship has been touted as a key solution to address youth unemployment challenges faced by countries across the globe, and many organisations have developed around this mandate to support youth in their entrepreneurial journeys. 

To inform the support provided by such organisations, it is crucial to investigate the global evidence base of literature on youth entrepreneurship to better understand their distinguishing characteristics as a group and their support needs.

For this reason, Genesis was contracted by Youth Business International (YBI) to conduct evidence-informed research into global youth entrepreneurship to guide the organisation’s work in the area. We conducted an extensive review of the evidence base to answer questions on youth entrepreneurship, including:

• How do youth entrepreneur businesses differ by region, gender and age?
• What outcomes do youth entrepreneurs achieve and how are these different for necessity-driven and opportunity-driven youth entrepreneurs?
• What are the key areas of support that youth entrepreneurs need?
• How effective are various forms of support for youth entrepreneurs?

Genesis developed a detailed literature search strategy to identify relevant evidence to inform the research. Studies selected for inclusion were documented in an extensive database, and the evidence was synthesised to address the main research questions of interest in a final research report.

The final research report presented a case for youth entrepreneurship based on the evidence synthesised, the key findings pertaining to the research questions of interest, and takeaways for how the evidence can inform the work that YBI does as a youth entrepreneurship organisation. YBI aims to make use of this document as well as the research and insights it contains to ensure that its work with youth entrepreneurs is evidence-based going forward.