
When asked about the business climate in their country for startups, EU youngsters score less favourably than their counterparts in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Confidence in their own entrepreneurial skills, a fear of failure, and how entrepreneurship is viewed as a career is also holding young people back.
“This report suggests that young people around the world have the will, but not the means, to become entrepreneurs,” says Andrew Devenport, CEO of Youth Business International.
“It’s worrying that whilst many young people do see good opportunities for starting up a business, most of those in Europe do not. At a time when we need more new businesses to help drive our economy forward, we want people to come together to support and encourage entrepreneurship in any way they can.”
Other key findings from the research:
- The USA has the highest percentage (12.6 per cent) of new or nascent business owners aged 18-35 with high growth
- Young people in Asia Pacific and South Asia are most likely, and young people in Sub-Saharan Africa least likely, to make use of an online trading
- Young entrepreneurs in all regions of the world perceive themselves, on average, to be more innovative than adults with respect to the extent to which their product or service is new to some or all customers and where few or no other businesses offer the same
- In sub-Saharan Africa (77.7%), Latin America and the Caribbean (75.7%) and Asia Pacific and South Asia (73.2%) approximately three-quarters of youth new or nascent businesses are primarily reliant on personal/family or friends for funding to start a business.
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