Young people have typically had a hard time in the workforce. Youth unemployment has usually been in the double digits almost everywhere in the world as employers favor workers with more experience. In industrialized economies the youth unemployment rate is between 13 and 15% while in the Middle East and North Africa that rate jumps to over 25%! Many of the world’s young people are turning to entrepreneurship as a way to make money and start a career. Some of the benefits to young people are:
Make Money – Many young people start their own businesses because they have no other choice. They cannot find a job and they need to make money to survive.
Provide Jobs – Young people who start their own businesses are also like to hire other young people to work for them which will decrease the youth unemployment rate.
Develop Skills – When you become an entrepreneur the number of new skills you develop grows exponentially. From accounting to customer service to sales to management to human resources, entrepreneurs quickly have to learn all the talents necessary to run a business which they might not get otherwise working at a typical job.
A few years ago I was invited to speak at a conferences at APEC in Monterrey and in Brunei where they were trying to encourage countries to achieve sustainable development through entrepreneurship. The more we can get young people around the world supporting themselves by starting their own businesses the faster countries will rise out of poverty and into prosperity.
Similarly, here in North America if you are looking to develop your own personal skills and earn the chance to determine your own income level there is no better time to start a company than right now. The funding opportunities are here, it is cheaper than ever to start a business, people are more willing to trust young people than ever before, and it is much easier to take a risk when you are young compared to when you have a family, children and are mid-career at an existing job.
So what are you waiting for?
Evan Carmichael
