Almelo, 8 November 2017 – Qredits is a proud delivery partner of the new Youth Business International (YBI) and the Citi Foundation partnership. YBI and Citi Foundation announced today their new two-year partnership to support young entrepreneurs in Europe.
Qredits is grateful for the support and has used it to further professionalize their EigenBaas school program and entrepreneurial evening training classes. With Citi support Qredits was able to totally update and expand their e-learning how to write a business plan for vocational college students (MBO / AS-degree level). An educational publishing house has written an official textbook to go along with the e-learning which is required ready for many students now.
This Fall semester alone 1500 student are participating in the program at 60 schools in the Netherlands and many have signed up for next year. On top of that 8 series of EigenBaas evening classes are being held throughout the Netherlands this Fall.
The previous partnership, which ran from 2015 to 2017, was the catalyst for the regional programme, Youth Business Europe, which has exceeded initial targets and supported over 2,490 youth to start or grow a business. It has also provided over 9,000 youth with entrepreneurship training and over 850 young entrepreneurs with business mentoring.
Youth unemployment in Europe continues to soar – 16.7% in June 2017 – and this new partnership aims to build on the successful results of Youth Business Europe in tackling this pressing issue. This programme has already helped people like Mustafa, who set up a business offering social integration courses for migrants in Sweden and Alicia, who started a business to connect women in Spain, empowering them professionally.
Key partnership features and future goals:
- this latest partnership has been expanded to include two new countries;
the programme now includes YBI member organisations in seven countries: microStart in Belgium, Positive Planet and Adie in France, KIZ in Germany, PermicroLab in Italy, Qredits in the Netherlands, Youth Business Spain in Spain and NyforetagarCentrum in Sweden. Expansion of the programme into Ireland is underway.
- Over the next two years
• 8,700 more youth will receive entrepreneurship training;
• 2,500+ youth will start or grow a business;
• 1,000+ youth will be mentored how to build a business.
resulting in young entrepreneurs creating further employment for young people across the eight European countries.
The partnership also includes a joint working component for the member organisations, who will be looking to develop new methodologies to support young entrepreneurs across Europe. Andrew Devenport, CEO of YBI: “The results achieved during the first partnership exceeded our expectations and revealed the need to innovate in youth entrepreneurship support at regional level. In this new partnership with the Citi Foundation, we will explore more ways to develop our support to young entrepreneurs, enhancing the digital and social components in the innovation process.”
Zdenek Turek, Europe Cluster Head, CEO Citibank Europe Plc, CCO Ireland said: “Investing in today’s youth is critical to the health of society and the economy. Targeted programmes like Youth Business Europe have supported young people to develop new businesses that have positively contributed to economic growth and social wellbeing. Our continued partnership with YBI, under our Pathways to Progress initiative, will build on our achievements and set more young people on a sustainable economic path.”
The partnership is one of the Citi Foundation’s flagship EMEA programmes, and is part of its Pathways to Progress initiative, which works to prepare and equip urban youth with the tools to thrive in today's economy. This year saw the expansion of Pathways to Progress globally, with a $100million commitment from the Citi Foundation to reach 500,000 young people with entrepreneurship and employability training before 2020.
