About YBN
youngbusiness.net (YBN) is a series of projects led by Enterprise Development Worldwide (EDW), the international arm of Wandsworth Youth Enterprise, which have been running since 1999. Working with partners in the United Kingdom and Central Europe, the projects have had a common aim to encourage the spread of youth enterprise in the UK and throughout mainland Europe.
With dramatically increasing numbers of young people entering labour markets in the next few years, global youth unemployment is set to increase substantially, in both the developing and developed world. Urgent action is needed on all fronts to address this issue.
The techniques deployed through the YBN programme have proved to be successful in both urban and rural regions of the UK and mainland Europe. The programme has been so successful that we are now working with partners in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean to develop and establish similar programmes in their countries.
The YBN programme uses a holistic model of support to engage and help young people decide if self-employment is right for them and to provide practical assistance to those who wish to set up their own businesses. The programme is designed to tackle unemployment and under-employment, social exclusion and lack of opportunity for young people. It offers solutions to the socio-economic barriers preventing young people from integrating with local or regional labour markets through self-employment.
Through our YBN programme, we have helped a range of organisations such as enterprise agencies, educational institutions, regional development agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) set up effective youth enterprise initiatives.
youngbusiness.net in Central Europe
Over the past two decades, the once state-controlled economies of Central Europe have been transformed into vibrant and innovative free markets. To sustain the rate of development, an enterprise culture must be nurtured at grass roots level to support continued economic growth.
EDW believes there can be no better place to start than with the first generation of young people to grow up entirely under this new liberal regime. It has therefore teamed up with local Central European partners to share with them the expertise gained from over 21 years of successful practice in the UK.
Since helping to set up the Budapest Youth Enterprise Centre in Hungary in 1996, the YBN programme has expanded across Hungary and into many other Central European countries.
Support for youngbusiness.net
The YBN Projects have been funded by:
