The Global Fund for Youth Entrepreneurship (“YES Fund”) is a bold initiative that is long overdue. The youth unemployment crisis is reaching a critical point. There are currently 1 billion youth (aged 15-24) on the planet, 85 percent of whom live in developing countries with minimal infrastructure to support education and employment preparation. There are also 1.5 billion children (age 14 and younger) waiting to flood unprepared labor markets. With little job creation expected in the public and private sectors in many developing countries, there is a desperate need to partner with youth, harness their creativity and drive, and provide them with the basic resources they need to create their own employment opportunities. We intend to create a global fund dedicated to fulfilling this mission, thereby unleashing youth entrepreneurship.

The YES Fund team intends to raise $25 million during the next three years to support the following activities:

• Develop strong business management and technical training programs in selected YES country networks to enable youth entrepreneurs (age 15-25) to develop viable businesses
• Conduct a business plan competition
• Provide at-risk capital and offer strategic advice and support to selected youth entrepreneurs as they grow and manage small and medium enterprises