Youth is a critical part of any growing community. One excellent way to support them is by encouraging youth entrepreneurship. The economy requires new entrepreneurs every year. And through successful youth entrepreneurship, you can establish a strong cultural identity and community. You get to build more competitive individuals and create innovative services and goods.
By encouraging entrepreneurship, you’re not only helping the youth themselves but also the hard-working parents in your community. Breed responsible, motivated, and competent entrepreneurs and reduce the unemployment rate. Continue reading to explore some strategies on how you can effectively promote youth entrepreneurship in your community.
Teach them about money
Most schools don’t usually focus on teaching personal finance. The result? Many teens and young adults struggle to handle their money when they are already earning and need to save and invest. Provide them with the smart money management techniques and moves in your youth entrepreneurship program. Mold them to be witty decision-makers in their own money. You can include personal finance lectures regarding how to handle their allowance, savings, and future investments.
Offer quality mentorship
While you can always volunteer to host youth entrepreneurship seminars or workshops, hiring a certified mentor would be ideal. Invite the most successful entrepreneurs in your community to participate in the program. Incorporating a mentoring relationship can make it easier to empower and encourage youth towards personal development and career goals.
A mentor can also help teens and young adults correct gaps in their knowledge and skills and develop a broader perspective on career opportunities and opportunities. Furthermore, the youth in your community can also gain insight into university culture and build their own coaching skills at a young age. In short, mentorship can help you make future business leaders.
Focus on creativity and failure
Many organizations and communities focus on the technical aspects of entrepreneurship. But did you know that your youth’s creative side greatly matters, too? Some experts say that being creative comes with making failures. To harness creativity, an individual should go beyond daily constraints and take meaningful risks.
However, such action comes with failure. Entrepreneurs should know how to pick themselves up. They must go deeper into what went wrong to create a smarter next move. Besides teaching this in your programs, ask the parents to encourage their kids to tackle creativity and failure. The youth should have the ability to think creatively and see their failure as a step towards reinvention.
Bring it to the classroom
Besides incorporating youth entrepreneurship in your community programs, classrooms are also a great place to foster the growth of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills. Involve the top local universities or schools in your community to take part in this mission.
Fortunately, most universities and colleges nowadays readily design their curriculum towards the personal and professional development of the students. Many of them are already on the mission to help the youth develop their entrepreneurship skills through lectures and practice. As a community leader, you can give your support and guide the educators in improving their programs and curriculum.
Build an entrepreneur hub
If your community has a big budget, you can consider building an entrepreneur hub. You can use the school or public facilities as a venue for the activities. You can welcome new startups or student entrepreneurs here and create the hub’s entire plan.
You can provide enterprise-wide management systems, mobile learning settings, performance assessment tools, and education simulations and games. Don’t hesitate to seek the help of for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations in your community, especially if you have limited resources.
Provide opportunities
Encouraging youth entrepreneurship is not only about offering lectures or mentorships but also helping your participants find opportunities relevant to their chosen field. You can start by guiding them in playing with business concepts in a low-risk and supportive environment.
Have your local business owners talk about who they are and what their companies work on. This can help the youth acquire first-hand information. Moreover, many local businesses would happily employ diligent young workers into their teams. Help them fill those vacant positions while providing the youth with actual entrepreneurial experience.
Helping the youth be inspired towards entrepreneurship is an excellent way to prepare them for a brighter and more prosperous future. You get to help them have the traits of a successful entrepreneur such as professionalism, social skills, passion, creativity, open-mindedness, and risk-taking. In return, you can expect more individuals to start a business in your area and help your community thrive more, too.
