Throughout the last decades, entrepreneurship has become more and more widespread among people all over the world, becoming more accessible and attractive even for young people. It is desirable that more and more young people take initiative and try their hands at entrepreneurship. Besides leading to overall development of society, youth entrepreneurship can help sustain growing economies and integrate youth into the workforce. Being recognised as a promising alternative, youth entrepreneurship is being actively promoted and supported, with efforts ranging from global projects to local initiatives and communities.
For aspiring young entrepreneurs in Europe, there are plenty of opportunities for gaining support in their efforts and ambitions, with diverse projects and initiatives dedicated to helping them in their road to success. Here is a brief overview of resources and programmes available for youth interested in entrepreneurship:
Global networks
Global projects for entrepreneurs usually operate through local hubs, fostering communities and ecosystems of entrepreneurs, creating an interconnected network of like-minded people, making support in entrepreneurship accessible for more and more people around the world. Three initiatives worth mentioning are:
Working in over 100 countries, Junior Achievement is one of the world’s largest youth-serving organizations, dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need for employment and entrepreneurship. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations and their programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. JA annually reaches more than 12 million students and helps to build the next generation of global innovators, entrepreneurs, makers, and managers.
Impact Hub is one of the largest networks focused on building communities of entrepreneurs. Offering not only a space for coworking but also various programs for entrepreneurs, Impact Hub provides support for people starting their own businesses all over the world. They offer a diverse spectrum of programs and formats for entrepreneurs, such as hackathons, workshops, trainings and their own incubation program, all designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs on their way to success.
Currently running in 30 countries including Czech Republic and Hungary (was running in Slovakia until 2019), Social Impact Award runs education and incubation programs for early-stage social entrepreneurs. Their activities include hosting events, organising workshops to raise awareness about social entrepreneurship, teaching the necessary skills to navigate from vague intentions to promising ventures and promoting the best entrepreneurs with the Social Impact Award. Each year, young social innovators can apply for the award with their project and compete for a chance to attend their intensive incubation program.
Startup accelerators
Since their foundation nearly two decades ago, startup accelerators have helped to build thousands of startups all over the world. Joining any established accelerator can give startups a significant boost in the form of mentorship, networking, inspiring coworking spaces and educational resources. Startups also have a chance to get a significant pre-seed investment, usually in exchange for single-digit equity. Accelerators are becoming increasingly popular elements of the regional growth infrastructure and are one of the easiest ways present to get a business up and running. Together, there are more than 7 000 accelerators and incubators in the world, with some being highly exclusive, accepting only 1-3% of applicants, while some others focus on a specific niche, such as technology or agriculture. The startup accelerator industry is truly diverse and there are many programs for entrepreneurs to choose from, with the leading ones being Y Combinator, Techstars and 500 Startups.
In Central Europe there can also be found a number startup accelerators for young entrepreneurs, such as Hiventures, Design Terminal (Hungary), Accelerator VŠEM (Czech Republic), Rozbiehátor (Slovakia), and Perry Talent (Czech Republic and Slovakia).
European Union supporting entrepreneurship
Apart from providing financial support through various funds, the European Union strategically supports entrepreneurs, with European Commission implementing various programmes to help them thrive. The entrepreneurship policy of European Commission seeks to support companies, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), promote education as well as reach out to and encourage specific groups, such as women or young people. They provide a wide spectrum of programmes and projects for entrepreneurs to take part in, such as Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, COSME programme, WEgate, and more.
Coworking spaces
Last but not least, coworking spaces represent local alternatives of support for entrepreneurs. From being an almost unknown concept a decade ago, coworking spaces have emerged to a continually more and more popular way of building and fostering communities of entrepreneurs. Coworking not only provides a physical place to work in, but also an opportunity for networking and collaboration, a tiny ecosystem of entrepreneurs that can learn from one another and support each other on their way to success. Coworking spaces can be found in almost every large city, open for all entrepreneurs who want to work on their projects in a dynamic community of like-minded people. If you are interested in joining such a community, may want to take a look at some of these coworking spaces: HubHub, Campus, Coworking AP by Slovak Business Agency, or you may also take a look at Coworker, which is a website joining hundreds of coworking spaces around the world.
So what are you waiting for? There are many opportunities for you to discover your entrepreneurship potential, it is up to you to seize them!
