Our January Youth Voice Forum focused on youth entrepreneurship and self-employment, and looked at how young people can be better supported.
The session was chaired by Charlotte Jeffreys (The Prince’s Trust) and aimed to explore young entrepreneurship, how the pandemic has affected young entrepreneurs and those aspiring to be one, and what support could help young people with this career path.
Richard Rigby (The Prince’s Trust) provided an update on the work that the YEG and Employment Minister are currently doing to support youth employment such as youth hubs, kickstart schemes and creating support which will follow the new enterprise allowance that ended 1 January 2022. He added that the YEG is keen to hear ideas from the discussion to further support this.
Guest Speaker, Ellie Taylor, shared her experiences with entrepreneurship as a young business owner. She explained her decision to start a business of her own, the steps she took to get there, and struggles along the way. As a Prince’s Trust young supported entrepreneur, she felt she had been given great mentorship, including tools and confidence to get to where she is today.
The youth discussion highlighted:
- Perceptions – People have different views of who can be an entrepreneur. There seems to be individual thresholds based on personal perceptions of success that determine whether someone will see themselves as an entrepreneur. This can harm confidence in young people as they don’t believe they can meet the ‘requirements’.
- Support – Mentors and networks are incredibly important. Some felt it was useful seeing local entrepreneurs to show what someone can be capable of. In addition, people felt that young people do not know where to find information, or do not know what they are looking for as there is no centralised source of support that everyone is eligible for. Therefore, only a small subsection of people can access it.
- Careers education – Young people feel pushed towards the traditional route of university and therefore don’t have the information they need to pursue self-employment confidently. Young people don’t have sufficient information regarding the self-employment career path and don’t see much diversity in entrepreneurs they are shown which can knock their self-belief.
- Security – Some felt the pandemic has made the transition of secure employment to self-employment more daunting. Having a guaranteed wage and entitled sick pay have been very important during the pandemic. Some self-employed workers had their life put on hold, meaning they had no income and struggled to find government support.
- Being online – Social media and events have been more accessible since the pandemic and have been increasingly helpful for business growth. The online community that you engage with can become clients when restrictions are lifted.
Suggestions moving forward:
- Perceptions – Young people’s perceptions of what makes you a successful entrepreneur, and whether they can do it, can be addressed through careers education. However, it also needs to come from the top. People need to take chances on young entrepreneurs and policies need to be providing sufficient support.
- Support – Now that the New Enterprise Allowance has ended, young people need another form of support. This should include mentors who provide step by step support. Also, support needs to be more centralised and accessible for people who require help as requirements limit the amount of people getting help.
- Careers education – Careers education in schools should be more comprehensive and start at a younger age. Diversity is also very important. If we want to reach a bigger group of young people, we have to be representing them.
- Security – Young people need to be encouraged to bet on themselves and take a leap. They need the confidence to be able to step out on their own and this comes into careers education. A comparison was drawn between the equivalence of debt from university and debt from a start-up loan – risks of loans are normalised when it comes to university, yet young people should have the self-belief to take a similar risk to start a business.
More about the Youth Voice Forum
The purpose of the YVF is to create a safe space for young people to come together and discuss the views, experiences & challenges that they face as a direct result of Covid-19. Here they also support the work that the YEG do and have an active voice in influencing policy. The YVF ensures policy responses genuinely reflect young people’s needs and perspectives by providing young people with opportunities to identify what changes need to be made and discuss solutions to the problems they themselves have identified.
Youth Employment Group
