"El objetivo de este artículo, consiste en analizar las características sociodemográficas de la población joven emprendedora en México, con la finalidad de identificar el perfil de los jóvenes emprendedores, así como indagar si en efecto, la actividad emprendedora configura un mecanismo de inserción exitoso al mercado laboral o, en su caso, se trata de una forma de sobrevivencia ante la carencia de oportunidades de empleo. Para ello, se propone incorporar los elementos dados por un conjunto de vertientes teóricas y empíricas, así como la construcción de un esquema analítico a partir de los datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo del primer trimestre 2016, y el método de Análisis de Correspondencias Múltiples. Los resultados muestran que, en cierta medida, se refuta la situación ideal del emprendimiento enunciada bajo los preceptos teóricos, ya que en el caso de los jóvenes mexicanos se deduce que la actividad emprendedora emerge como una forma de sobrevivencia más que una manera de explotar el entorno para los negocios, la motivación personal y las capacidades físicas e intelectuales."

"We study the medium-term impacts of the Skills for Effective Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) program, an innovative in-residence 3-week mini-MBA program for high school students modeled after western business school curricula and adapted to the Ugandan context. The program featured two separate treatments: the hard-skills MBA features a mix of approximately 75% hard skills and 25% soft skills; the soft skills curriculum has the reverse mix. Using data on 4400 youth from a nationally representative sample in a 3-arm field experiment in Uganda, the 3.5 year follow-up demonstrated that training was effective in improving both hard and soft skills, but only soft skills were directly linked to improvements in self-efficacy, persuasion, and negotiation. The skill upgrade was rewarded in substantially higher earnings; 32.1% and 29.8% increases in earnings for those who attended hard- and soft-training, respectively, most of which, was generated through self-employment. Furthermore, youth in both groups were more likely to start enterprises and more successful in ensuring their businesses' survival. The program led to significantly larger profits (24.2% and 27.2% for hard- and soft- treatment arms respectively) and larger business capital investments (38.4% and 32.6% for SEED hard and SEED soft, respectively). Both SEED curricula were very cost-effective; two months worth of the extra earnings caused by the training alone would exceed the cost of the program. These benefits abstract from the job- and business-creation benefits of the program, which were substantial: relative to the control group, SEED entrepreneurs created 985 additional jobs and 550 new businesses."

"Building on Youth Business International's policy recommendations to date, this report compiles a series of case studies that each illustrate how the finance gap can be closed for young and other underserved entrepreneurs through providing non-financial support, such as training and mentoring. This integrated approach reduces the risk of lending to youth and other underserved demographics, and the value of the non-financial support substitutes for collateral and other types of guarantee."