Youth enterprise – ahead of the rest

Economy
ViewsMarch 13th, 2014

With new figures confirming that 917,000 young people in the UK aged 16-24 were unemployed in October-December 2013, the need to create new and meaningful employment opportunities for young people is a priority for governments across the UK and Ireland. Tackling long-term unemployment amongst the younger generation is as much a social need as it is a prerequisite of economic growth.

But governments can no longer rely on very large, traditional employers to provide dependable futures for the majority of those not in education, employment or training (NEET) and to lead the way towards recovery. Instead, employers are asking the younger generation to work in new environments and sectors, for new and changing organisations and, in many cases, to build their own workplaces.

But how do we equip young people with the skills necessary for the 21st workplace?

More and more, enterprise education is being introduced in our schools, colleges and universities to instil students with entrepreneurial skills which will help bring economic and social benefits both to them personally and to society more widely. As education is a devolved issue, governments across the UK and Ireland are taking different approaches to delivering enterprise education in the hope of energising the employers of the future. For example, last month the Scottish Government announced the creation of the Youth Scottish EDGE Fund to support the next generation of entrepreneurs aged 18 – 25 to turn their ideas into new businesses. Two weeks later, in Ireland the Minister for Small Business, John Perry T.D launched the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards competition with a prize fund of cash and consultancy on offer.

While these efforts are to be commended, there appears to be very limited coordination, sharing of success or learning from challenges across different jurisdictions. However, recent research published by the Carnegie UK Trust found that there is a demand amongst policymakers and practitioners for more sharing of evidence across the jurisdictions. In this regard, we think that there is much that the other jurisdictions of the UK and Ireland can learn from the success of the Welsh approach to enterprise education.

Why learn from Wales?

Put simply, the Welsh Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy is delivering clear results. The Strategy has been upheld by the European Commission as an example of good practice and The RSA and RBS Inspiring Enterprise Initiative have credited the Welsh approach with increasing early-stage entrepreneurial activity among young people.  Our own research also found that the impact of the Strategy is three-fold.

Firstly, taking part in enterprise challenges and competitions delivered by Big Ideas Wales as part of the Strategy is raising students’ aspirations to go into business themselves. Secondly, by taking part in these challenges young people are improving their entrepreneurial skills such as sales, networking and marketing. Finally, more young entrepreneurs in Wales are setting up their own businesses than elsewhere in the UK and Ireland. Recent statistics from the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that Welsh universities have 5% of the UK’s higher education students, but generate over 9% of UK graduate business start-ups, with more than 11% trading for three years or more.

To have an internationally celebrated Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy being delivered within the UK is a significant opportunity for learning across borders. Sharing what has proven to work well could be key to improving enterprise education across the UK and Ireland and delivering a new pathway to recovery by developing more enterprising minds.

 Martyn Evans is the Chief Executive of the Carnegie UK Trust

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