Newsflash

Clinton Global Initiative & Arthur Guinness Fund Donation to YBA
Youth Business America to Receive $750,000 from Guinness & Co. in Celebration of Philanthropic Legacy of Iconic Stout’s Founder

New York (September 25, 2009) – As part of the 250th anniversary celebration honoring its founder, the makers of Guinness® beer announced a commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative to develop a micro lending program in the United States for young adults of legal drinking age with a desire to launch a new business, but who do not have access to funding. The commitment is being made as a $750,000 investment in Youth Business America, an independent non-profit organization that supports young entrepreneurs, from the newly created Arthur Guinness Fund.

“Making this commitment to Youth Business America is a tremendous opportunity to continue the philanthropic legacy of Arthur Guinness, “said Nagisa Manabe, vice-president of marketing at Diageo, the company that produces and markets Guinness. “This commitment will enable Guinness and Youth Business America to make strides towards a unified objective: to assist individuals in using their personal skills and knowledge to benefit the members of their community.”

The Arthur Guinness Fund is a global program from Guinness & Co. donating €6 million with the sole purpose of supporting programs and projects around the world that enable and empower people with skills and opportunities to benefit and enrich communities. The projects will bring to life a commitment to social responsibility and the vision of the Arthur Guinness Fund – “From One to Many.”

Young adults represent the bulk of the unemployed in the U.S. and, in the underserved communities Youth Business America (YBA) reaches, unemployment is well over 25 percent. The investment from the Arthur Guinness Fund will go toward expanding YBA’s reach to more local communities and to support administration of the program. In addition, staff at Guinness & Co. and Diageo, will use their expertise to mentor the young adults supported under the program, improving the young entrepreneurs’ approach to marketing and innovation, and helping ensure the businesses created have a strong sense of social responsibility.

Darcie Cookson, CEO of Youth Business America, said, “This collaboration will really make a difference to young aspiring entrepreneurs. When we made the commitment last year to launch a youth business initiative in the USA, I realized that we would need some major support from three or four leading companies to make it happen. Guinness is the first of these businesses and we are working towards growing this coalition over the coming months.”


Youth Business America was established as a 2008 Clinton Global Initiative commitment by Youth Business International (YBI), a London-based non-profit organization that leads a global network of independent country initiatives helping young people to start their own business and create employment. The Prince of Wales founded Youth Business International and continues to serve as President.

The global network led by YBI uses a tried and tested model that ensures that the new businesses supported have survival rates that are typically experienced in the small enterprise start up market. Youth Business America will use the same successful approach to provide a combination of a loan, a volunteer business mentor and other business development services to young adults who otherwise would not have access to the resources needed to start a business. The investment from the Arthur Guinness Fund is expected to help over 170 young adults to start up their own businesses, creating jobs for hundreds of others.

Youth Business America and Guinness believe that there is a real opportunity to take advantage of two factors in America – the long-standing commitment to small business, and the culture of volunteerism – to build a program that promotes self-employment and creates jobs using the resources and skills of the business sector.
Guinness Fund is a six million Euro internal program created by in Guinness
In 1759, 250 years ago this year, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Arthur Guinness and his family have been responsible for numerous acts of corporate philanthropy and created a tradition of goodness within the company that continues today. As an enlightened entrepreneur, Arthur Guinness had the vision to improve the communities and lives of the citizens where Guinness did business around the world. The €6 million Arthur Guinness Fund will support a variety of programs and projects around the world that enable and empower people with skills and opportunities to deliver a measurable benefit at the community level.

Please visit www.GUINNESS.com to learn more about global initiatives and remember to always drink responsibly.

About GUINNESS®
GUINNESS® enjoys a global reputation as a uniquely authentic Irish beer and the best-selling stout in the world. Famous for its dark color, creamy head and unique surge and settle, this distinctive beer has been brewed at the St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland since 1759. Over 10 million glasses of GUINNESS beer are enjoyed every single day around the world, and 1.8 billion pints are sold every year. GUINNESS is available in well over 100 countries worldwide and is brewed in almost 50. Also from the makers of GUINNESS, SMITHWICK’S, Ireland’s oldest and best selling ale and HARP Lager, whose name pays tribute to the GUINNESS logo and the national symbol of Ireland. Additional information about GUINNESS can be found at www.guinness.com.

About Youth Business America
Youth Business America helps young people turn their good ideas into sustainable businesses. In the USA, we support young entrepreneurs who are unable to find start up funds elsewhere. Globally, we support the network led by Youth Business International (www.youthbusiness.org), by enabling US tax payers to support young entrepreneurs all over the world. www.youthbusinessamerica.org

YBA is based on the successful Youth Business Program model operating in 39 countries some for over 20 years that form the membership in the Prince’s Youth Business International (YBI) a London based network organization. Combined, these programs have created over 90,000 new businesses worldwide. The combination of a commitment to small business and the culture of volunteerism that exists in the U.S. provide an optimal climate for building a Youth Business Program in America.

About Diageo
Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wines, and beer categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, J&B, Baileys, Cuervo, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines.
Diageo is a global company, trading in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at Diageo.com. For our global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit DRINKiQ.com.

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.

Media Contacts:

Elizabeth Balduino, Taylor
(212) 714-5726
ebalduino@taylorpr.com

Darcie Cookson, Youth Business America
(415) 203-5126
D.Cookson@youthbusinessamerica.org
Erica J. Johnson, Guinness
646-223-2038
erica.johnson@diageo.com
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Advisory Board

William Reese

William_Reese_Portrait Bill Reese was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of IYF in January 2005. He first joined IYF in May 1998 as its Chief Operating Officer. He provides leadership and oversight for the management of the Foundation’s operations and programs supporting positive youth development in more than 70 countries and territories.

Before joining IYF, Bill was President/CEO for 12 years of Partners of the Americas, the largest citizen-run, voluntary organization working to promote economic and social development in the western hemisphere. He was deputy director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region in the Peace Corps, before heading a special task force that managed the international celebration of the Peace Corps’ 20th anniversary in 1981. Previously he served on the boards of the Independent Sector, Eureka Communities, Amigos de las Americas, the Brazilian American Cultural Institute, the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the International Development Conference, the Rondon-Roosevelt Center (in Rio de Janeiro), Fundación para la Educación Superior/USA, COLEAD (Coalition for American Leadership Abroad), ChildHope International, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas (OAS). He was vice chair of the Debt for Development Coalition and Finance for Development, Inc.

Bill has strong interest and experience working with the business community, and in building strong public-private partnerships. He is a member of the International Workforce Development Advisory Committee of the Management and Training Corporation, the largest Job Corps contractor in the U.S. In 2009, Bill was elected to the board of the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation, guiding its philanthropic and community investment programs around the world.

Sir Tom Shebbeare

Tom joined the UK branch of World University Service, an international development agency specialising in refugee resettlement, in 1973 before becoming General Secretary of the British Youth Council in 1975. From 1980-1987 he was a member of The Council of Europe (Strasbourg).

In 1988 he was appointed by The Prince of Wales to be the first Director of The Prince’s Trust; he became its Chief Executive in 1999 on its incorporation by Royal Charter.

In 2004, he took up his current position as Director of The Prince’s Charities - the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the UK with interests in Opportunity and Enterprise (of which The Prince’s Trust is one), Education, Health, The Built Environment & Responsible Business. Last year the group raised and spent over £122m in the UK and overseas. Additionally six Social Enterprises, including “Duchy Originals” have a combined turnover of £90m pa.

He is a Trustee of In Kind Direct (UK), UK Skills, The Turquoise Mountain Foundation, Queens College (London), The Nations Trust (South Africa), Traditional Arts Ltd, Sentebale (Lesotho), CIM Investments Ltd and The School Food Trust.

Tom acts as Chairman of the Foundations’ Forum which brings together the UK’s largest private charitable foundation with an annual spend in excess of £700m.

He was Knighted in the Queen’s New Year Honours 2003.

Lawrence Wilkinson

Lawrence Wilkinson is Chairman of Heminge & Condell (H&C), an investment and strategic advisory firm, and Co-Founder of Global Business Network (GBN). Through H&C, Lawrence is involved in venture formation work, and as a director and counselor to a number of companies that he helped create, among them: Oxygen Media, Inc, GBN, Ealing Studios, Design Within Reach, Particle Therapeutics, Mercantila, and Character.

Lawrence has authored and edited numerous publications and Harvard Business School case studies ranging from Public Broadcasting in the U.S. (Harvard Business School Press) to The Cambridge Milton (Cambridge University Press). He is the author of How To Build Scenarios (Wired, 1995) and of The Future of Shopping (forthcoming). At the same time, Lawrence continues to offer strategic counsel to a number of corporate clients and governments around the world. Named a "Jedi Knight of Innovation" by Fast Company, Lawrence is a widely consulted and cited authority on strategic issues; he is a frequent speaker in public, industry, and corporate settings, and is active in a variety of not-for-profit organizations.

 
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