Youth Business America & Youth Business International

The Youth Business America (YBA) initiative is an American initiative to bring the opportunity of starting sustainable businesses to young Americans who lack the resources. The initiative will be greatly strengthen by immediately becoming a partner of the Youth Business International (YBI) and a member of its worldwide network that will additionally provide opportunities to YBA’s stakeholders and to US based supporters of youth enterprise who take an international perspective.

The methodology of YBA is that of the 36 other members of the YBI Network; to provide one-on-one volunteer business mentoring in addition to loan capital and training for young people (aged 18 – 35) wishing to start their own business but without access to these resources elsewhere. It is a methodology that has proved highly successful in both developed and emerging market economies. The YBI Network has supported almost 100,000 business start-ups for young people and created over 250,000 jobs whilst importantly achieving business survival rates significantly higher than those for business start-ups in general.

YBA’s partnership with YBI will bring to YBA all the synergies of belonging to an established network of like-minded experienced organisations. These benefits include accrued best practice, knowledge leadership and access to systems within the YBI Network that are centralised in YBI. In addition, particularly important during YBA’s early development, YBI shall provide operational and branding support. Branding support comes through YBI’s accreditation or social audit scheme which all members of the YBI Network must periodically submit to if they are to become and remain members of the YBI Network.

YBI is a UK based non-profit organization which has operated for nine years and whose only objectives are to assist the growth of its members and the expansion of the network membership. Its President is HRH The Prince of Wales who was responsible for initiating in the UK the YBI Network’s longest established and most prolific member, The Prince’s Trust, in 1978.

YBI’s partnership with YBA will benefit YBI in providing the opportunity for US based institutions and individuals to easily and efficiently invest internationally in YBI and its network by offering not only the tax advantages of a 501 (c) 3 registration but also a domestic example (in YBA) of a youth business program. The partnership between YBI and YBA will also be important in the area of advocacy. Globally young people are between three and four times more likely to be neither in education, employment or training than the general adult population. The YBI Network has an important role in raising awareness and promoting an enabling environment for microenterprises begun by young people in these challenging economic times, (for example YBI holds the secretariat for youth entrepreneurship within the UN’s Youth Enterprise Network). Advocacy on youth entrepreneurship is particularly important in the US because the influence of its public and private institutions are felt well beyond its shores and because the methodology of the YBI Network greatly benefits from strong cross-sectoral partnerships and the culture of volunteerism which are both prevalent in this country.

Sir Malcolm Williamson
February 24th, 2009