At the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit: Jump Start America held in Kansas City, Nov. 13 - 15, 2011 YES and CCI launched our signature initiative YouthTrade™. Over the two and a half days of the Summit the participants worked towards aligning on a new architecture for fulfillment of our goal for generating young conscious entrepreneurs infused with the values of Conscious Capitalism. We are calling this architecture YouthTrade™.
YouthTrade™ is built on a simple yet big idea-
providing markets for goods from young American entrepreneurs under the age of 35, born out of a simple question of how to align conscious companies with conscious entrepreneurs.
YouthTrade 101:
Three interlinked stakeholders:
1. The Supplier: A young American entrepreneur (under 35) who joins as a member of YouthTrade and receives certification of their
products - the YouthTrade Entrepreneur.
2. The Retailer: A retailer such as Whole Foods Market- who commits to placing YouthTrade certified products on their shelves- the YouthTrade Retailer.
3. The Consumer: a buyer who commits to buying YouthTrade products as a small percentage of their regular purchases - the YouthTrade Consumer.
Fully looped strategy: Is to ensure that Entrepreneurs' products (for example Runa tea) finds a Retailer (Whole Foods Market) for selling their product, and the Retailer (Whole Foods Market) enables a consumer (any one of us) to buy that product.
In addition to building the demand side, the team will launch an extensive media campaign to promote YouthTrade entrepreneurs and YouthTrade retailers - we hope to set up YouthTrade chapters in universities and other outlets to create buzz and a new way to do business. We are at a defining moment in time and the creation of this new structure brings great energy and enthusiasm.
We are proud to announce that the Whole Foods Market North Atlantic Region has become the first US YouthTrade company, and will source and showcase the first YouthTrade products by May 21, 2012. Whole Foods Market is also hosting the YouthTrade Summit on March 15, 2012 in Boston.
YES TEAM ORGANIZES EVENTS IN NIGERIA, MALI and SENEGAL
BUILDING YouthTrade NIGERIA™
DECEMBER 8TH & 9TH, 2011
Lagos Nigeria
Planning meetings were held in Lagos, Nigeria, and in Ogun State for setting up the YouthTrade Nigeria™ Innovation Studio. A delegation from the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), led by Dr. Frannie A. Léautier, Executive Secretary of the Foundation participated in the planning meetings. Hafsat Abiola, President,KIND, Pamela Braide, YES Nigeria Leader, and Poonam Ahluwalia, President YES, among other team members participated in this landmark meeting.
YouthTrade ™ Nigeria Innovation Studio is being designed as a small pilot that will start an organized social movement to create a niche market dedicated for goods and services produced by Nigerian entrepreneurs under the age of thirty-five. ACBF has been approached to support this initiative, which will be implemented in partnership with YES.
YES Nigeria team Pamela Braide and Hafsat Abiola-Costello will lead this effort in Nigeria. The government and the private sector have already recognized the need to promote youth entrepreneurship and have launched programs in keeping with the traditional ways of doing things. Although much is needed, their efforts only support young people with ideas generation, competing for good ideas and support services with business development services. YouthTrade is different - it picks up from where all support to youth entrepreneurs ends - providing a branded and publicized way of opening markets and
accelerating entrepreneurial ventures.
YouthTrade ™ Nigeria will work with existing young entrepreneurs and with the pipeline through other entrepreneur development programs. Alumni of such programs will be supported by generating a marketplace for their products and by building the demand side.
For more information about YouthTrade Nigeria please contact Maurise Maclou: maurise@yesweb.org
JUMPSTART MALI: A Visioning Workshop for Building an Entrepreneurial Culture for Youth in Mali was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Koulouba, Bamako
DECEMBER 11 and 12th 2011
Following Nigeria, the YES Mali team in partnership with the Mali Ministry of Youth and Sports hosted two events.
On December 11th a high-level Welcome lunch was hosted by Monsieur Djiguiba Keita, Minister of Youth and Sports, for Poonam Ahluwalia, President YES. The lunch was graced by the presence of Monsieur Soumeylou Boubeye MAIGA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madame Siby Ginette BELLEGARDE, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Monsieur Lansine BOUARE, Minister of Economy and Finance, and Monsieur Modibo KADJOKE, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training. At this magical meeting hosted at the Bamako Museum the five Ministers discussed the Youth Enterprise Generator project for teaching entrepreneurship, and setting up a Business Incubation Center, and pledged their support.
On December 12th the Jump Start Mali: A Visioning Workshop for Building an Entrepreneurial Culture for the Youth of Mali was held. The objective of this workshop was to meet with diverse stakeholders, and together understand the challenges facing young Mali entrepreneurs, in order to build a joint vision for promoting youth entrepreneurship in Mali. Heads of 22 key organizations were among the 65 participants showing how important the work of promoting youth entrepreneurship is in Mali. At the workshop the Minister of Youth welcomed everyone and shared about his participation at the YES Summit in Kansas City, and the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training shared his experience of participating in the YES Kenya Summit in 2006. Poonam Ahluwalia, President YES shared the work of YES - and laid out the YES Mali vision for youth entrepreneurship. Together gaps were identified and alignment was generated for preparing a collaborative work plan for Mali. The first piece of this plan will entail organizing a YES Mali Summit in February 2012 and launching the Youth Enterprise Generator at this Summit.
After this workshop the Minister of Youth and Sports, and Ms. Ahluwalia visited the First Lady of Mali, Hon. Madame Toure Lobbo Traore who signed a special commitment letter to build YouthTrade Mali. They were also honored with an audience with Hon. Monsieur Amadou Toumani Toure, President of the Republic of Mali who agreed to become the Global Champion of the Youth Enterprise Generator Project and gave his blessings and support for the YES Mali Summit.
YES and the Ministry of Youth and Sports are working together with the African Capacity Building Foundation on Youth Employment using an innovative finance instrument to support this effort.
For more information about Jump Start Mali please contact Maurise Maclou at maurise@yesweb.org
Synapse Center, the host of YES Senegal organizes the SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEADERSHIP Seminar to begin the design of YouthTrade Senegal
DECEMBER 16, 2011
The final leg of Poonam Ahluwalia's, President of YES, West African journey has brought her to beautiful Dakar. Here with Chiekhou Thiome, YES Senegal Leader, and Cire Kane, YES Senegal Co-founder, Ms. Ahluwalia is meeting with partners to co-create YouthTrade Senegal.
On December 16, Ms. Ahluwalia, will be featured at the SYNAPSE CENTER seminar on: Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Leadership in Dakar. The mission and vision of the Synapse Center is to develop and strengthen the entrepreneurial leadership of individuals and organizations to develop innovative solutions to societal problems. This interactive workshop will feature the Synpase Center's newest class of social entrepreneurs and focus on sustainable enterprise, leadership, and the future of YouthTrade in Senegal.
YES Senegal and Synapse are working together with the African Capacity Building Foundation on youth employment and entrepreneurship using an innovative finance instrument to support these efforts.
For more information about YouthTrade Senegal please contact Maurise Maclou at maurise@yesweb.org
YES FLINT TEAM ORGANIZES
YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SUMMIT IN FLINT, MICHIGAN
The YES Flint Chapter organized a successful Summit for young entrepreneurs in early December aimed at reviving the entrepreneurial spirit of Flint, Michigan.
The Young Entrepreneurs Summit brought together young aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages including local college and high school students and graduates to share their entrepreneurial dreams, venture ideas, and business successes. Flint native and former Michigan State University basketball star Mateen Cleaves inspired the crowd with the day's keynote address.
Read more about the YES Flint Young Entrepreneurs Summit here.
