Facilitating youth entrepreneurship through digital tools
In 2018 around 900 000 young adults were leaving school with no formal qualifications, or diploma in France. Existing studies show that 70% of them experienced a NEET status (not in education, employment or training) at least once within the next three years after that. Although for most of them it was a temporary phenomenon, as much as 30% of NEETs stayed inactive in a long-term. The lack of educational and social capital, but also the geographical economic circumstances, were found to be significant factors in remaining in long-term NEET trajectories.
The youth employment supporting organizations in France still suffer in their efficiency, mainly due to the limited financial resources and a lack of human capital. The vocational educational system attracts more the graduates of higher education, and has no significant capacity to identify and approach NEETs.
On the other hand, France is well perceived as a country that supports young people in becoming entrepreneurial and developing their new start-ups. Since 2005, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has offered the YEI Start in France programme that has provided intensive training and a one-week immersion programmes to mentor, coach and train people how to do business in France. Also, the French business schools are among the highest-ranked in Europe. But again, the system experiences difficulties in approaching and attracting NEETs, especially at the local level.
Within this context Aksantys team aimed their activities at building local network at the suburbs of Paris that would help local NEETs to identify opportunities within their own community, which later can be transformed into new business models. The activities performed within this project were aimed at working together, sharing the experiences and opinions on how young people can undertake their own initiatives and create their own business.
The steps undertaken included:
- Recruitment and integration of NEETs into existing local environments;
- Performance of a series of digital meetings, where the SWOT analyses of the individual and team business ideas were performed;
- The equipment of the NEETs into the access to digital and economic skills;
- The use and test of digital tools in daily activities, networking, local demand and supply monitoring, and product development;
- The creation of a digital explanatory gamification motivation system.
Facilitating youth entrepreneurship through digital tools
In 2018 around 900 000 young adults were leaving school with no formal qualifications, or diploma in France. Existing studies show that 70% of them experienced a NEET status (not in education, employment or training) at least once within the next three years after that. Although for most of them it was a temporary phenomenon, as much as 30% of NEETs stayed inactive in a long-term. The lack of educational and social capital, but also the geographical economic circumstances, were found to be significant factors in remaining in long-term NEET trajectories.
The youth employment supporting organizations in France still suffer in their efficiency, mainly due to the limited financial resources and a lack of human capital. The vocational educational system attracts more the graduates of higher education, and has no significant capacity to identify and approach NEETs.
On the other hand, France is well perceived as a country that supports young people in becoming entrepreneurial and developing their new start-ups. Since 2005, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has offered the YEI Start in France programme that has provided intensive training and a one-week immersion programmes to mentor, coach and train people how to do business in France. Also, the French business schools are among the highest-ranked in Europe. But again, the system experiences difficulties in approaching and attracting NEETs, especially at the local level.
Within this context Aksantys team aimed their activities at building local network at the suburbs of Paris that would help local NEETs to identify opportunities within their own community, which later can be transformed into new business models. The activities performed within this project were aimed at working together, sharing the experiences and opinions on how young people can undertake their own initiatives and create their own business.
The steps undertaken included:
- Recruitment and integration of NEETs into existing local environments;
- Performance of a series of digital meetings, where the SWOT analyses of the individual and team business ideas were performed;
- The equipment of the NEETs into the access to digital and economic skills;
- The use and test of digital tools in daily activities, networking, local demand and supply monitoring, and product development;
- The creation of a digital explanatory gamification motivation system.