FAQ

The Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Academy (YEPA) is a policy-learning network of 150 participants, including policymakers, youth entrepreneurship networks and organisations, social entrepreneurship networks, programme managers and researchers. This three-year initiative will build on the long-standing OECD-EU co-operation on inclusive and social entrepreneurship and the related OECD outputs, expertise, data and networks on youth entrepreneurship.

The YEPA aims to strengthen youth entrepreneurship policies and programmes by raising knowledge about the barriers faced by young people in entrepreneurship and facilitating exchanges between policy makers, young entrepreneurs and experts on “what works” in youth entrepreneurship policy. Additional stakeholders (e.g. entrepreneurs, investors, business incubators, financial institutions, experts and practitioners, etc.) will be invited to participate in relevant workshops on an ad hoc basis.

The YEPA aims to improve youth labour market outcomes by supporting governments and their partners in designing and implementing appropriate youth entrepreneurship policies. It will boost awareness of the need for policy support for youth entrepreneurship and conditions for policy success by:

• Raising awareness among policy makers about obstacles faced by young people with potential in entrepreneurship;

• Raising awareness among policy makers about successful policy approaches and how to design and implement them, as well as how to avoid policy failures;

• Raising awareness among policy makers and youth entrepreneurship networks on the attractiveness, specificities and added value of social entrepreneurship for youth; and

• Creating a regular mechanism for policy makers to consult with youth entrepreneurship networks and to stimulate youth entrepreneurship network creation.

The YEPA is a three-year initiative involving many activities, including two full-day in-person events in Brussels and a series of thematic online workshops that present and discuss the obstacles faced by young entrepreneurs, as well as policy successes and failures. Workshops will include expert presentations, moderated discussion, and an opportunity for policy makers to interact directly with youth to learn about their challenges and ideas for how support could be improved. Information notes will be prepared and disseminated following each event.

I am an individual

• I am a youth entrepreneur, youth entrepreneurship expert, researcher or practitioner.
• If you are interested in being involved in YEPA activities or learning more about recent developments in youth entrepreneurship policy, please join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates or email us to express interest in joining the network in the future.

I am a network or organisation

• I am involved in a youth network or organisation supporting youth entrepreneurship and self-employment. My organisation provides support for youth entrepreneurship policy. My organisation helps to facilitate professional networks or business associations.
• If you are interested in being involved in YEPA activities as a future national or international youth network representative, please join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates. You can also email us a brief description of your network that includes a brief professional biography (4-5 sentences) that highlights your relevant experience in youth entrepreneurship, including your role in the network and some of the main activities of the network.

I work in local, regional or national government.

• I am a policymaker in a local, regional or national government working on youth policy and youth entrepreneurship policy.
• If you are interested in being involved in YEPA activities as a future national or international government representative, please join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates. You can also email us a brief message that includes your name, ministry/agency, contact details and a brief (4-5 sentences) professional biography that highlights your connection with youth entrepreneurship policy.

Participating from outside the EU

• There are selected opportunities available for governments, networks, organisations and youth entrepreneurship experts from across these areas.
• Organisations from countries outside the EU can take part in selected events of the YEPA. If your organisation is hosted in one of the OECD countries, it may be eligible to take part in some YEPA activities. Please send an email to the OECD Secretariat with a brief description of your work, a brief professional biography (4-5 sentences) that highlights your experience and relevance to the project.
• If you are from a non-EU and non-OECD country, we invite you to join our mailing list, watch the public recordings of the YEPA events and read the related reports and notes featured on our website.