Global Changemakers

                                                                                              Youth Business Conference

Entrepreneurship is like a vital force. The more the human is entrepreneurial, the stronger he influences and secures his future, quality of his own life and life of his surroundings. And the more the nation is entrepreneurial, the more powerful, efficient and successful the nation is and the more it develops its economy and social power. Entrepreneurship has the major impact on the development of the society and the entire humankind. Entrepreneurship is a science for some people and it is an art for other people.

The Youth Business Conference is a project for young people focused on supporting education, gaining experiences and practical knowledge in the area of entrepreneurship. We believe that young people have the potential to came up with great ideas that can turn into profitable businesses or social entrepreneurship projects. With this on mind we initiated this project at the beginning of 2010 in the Czech Republic.

Within the frame of the project we launched three competitions into which active young people up to 18 years old with the spirit of enterprise could enter till April 30. The purpose of these competitions was to allow talented young people to develop their skills, motivate and help with the implementation of their ideas, support their personal development and enterprise activities.

The competitions consist of Youth Business Project (competition of best business plans which could be implemented in practise), Youth Business Idea (competition of essays, stories, interviews or texts on nine topics connected with entrepreneurship) and Youth Business Knowledge (competition with questions related to business and  economy). Thanks to the great promotion, support from national student organisations and media partners we received altogether 125 applications from young people from the whole country. The motivation to win was really high because of great prizes including so called “Job Shadowing” at the business or marketing manager position at Newton Media – the largest multinational Central European company monitoring the media market.

On 22 May 2010 we organised the final conference bringing together people from business and schools. It took place at the University of Economics in Prague. This well-known and respected university allowed us to organize the all-day event in the most representative hall. Among more than 100 young participants we also had representatives from large companies, institutions, international organisations (including British Council) and many others.

The conference programme was full of inspiring lectures, presentations and competitions. The participants could also join two panel discussions with student organisation representatives (e. g. AIESEC, iKnow Club, Young Manager Club, IT Business Club, CEMS) and with successful entrepreneurs, top managers and investors. During one hour of fresh ideas, fascinating stories, good advice, recommendations and different opinions from the professionals the participants could gain wonderful experience. Therefore, the Youth Business Conference provided a unique possibility for active young people to meet successful people from business.

Thanks to this project, we believe that we have motivated young people with the potential to became new world-class entrepreneurs and future leaders. The project has received great feedback both from participants and business professionals.

Having the experience with Youth Business Conference, I would recommend everyone who is interested in new ideas and world of entrepreneurship to organise similar project in his country so that there would be more young business enthusiasts who will lead the future world economy.

Are you interested in the project? Contact us at info@ybc.cz or visit us at www.ybc.cz (English version available at www.ybc.cz/english.aspx).
Kamil Zeman, project coordinator

What do you think about the Youth Business Conference project that supports active young people who are interested in entrepreneurship?

“In youth people have plenty of great ideas that unfortunately aren’t implemented. This project can show young people the right way and help them to grab the opportunity.”

Tomáš Jindřich, SAP Solution Architect at Hewlet-Packard