Who are our next generation of entrepreneurs?
As a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, educator, caregiver, etc., are you encouraging young people to be entrepreneurs? As a business owner, are you looking for ways to welcome young people into your organization as a future innovative contributor?
When I was a child, the adults in my family always asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My typical answer was a lawyer. I thought lawyers were cool when I was a kid because I believed they stood for fairness and justice, and they helped people. Thinking back, the only two questions the adults in my world did ask were: What do you want to be? Where are you going to college?
I recently read an article (Chelala, 2008) entitled, The Next Generation of Entrepreneurs, that stated, “…future [economic] growth will depend on the creation of an entrepreneurial workforce that is stable, educated, and has the capacity and training to seize short- and long-term opportunities. Achieving economic growth and social development depends on young people being able to reach their potential not only as employees, but also as employers.”
For the last year, my eleven year old son has been learning the printing business. There are no major expectations of him, but when he wants to earn a little cash, he completes tasks for the business too. I have instinctively encouraged his learning the business because I believe it “builds character”. He listens to conversations with customers and asks questions. I support this because I want to help develop his critical thinking skills. I know he loves technology and is an avid gamer, so I encourage him to think about what he could do as an adult in this arena. When he was a little guy – about 6 six years old, he loved watching racing on television, so we took him to a Nascar Race, so he could see it up close and personal. If he wanted to grow up and race cars or own a race car, I would wholeheartedly support that. I believe we need to pay attention to the young people in our society and look for real opportunities to support them with words of wisdom or guidance whenever possible.
Both national and international organizations like Young Americas Business Trust are supporting initiatives that make it possible for countries and communities to support the development of youth innovation and entrepreneurship.
On November 15 of last year, the Young Americas Business Trust launched its 2008 Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas, an international business plan competition that seeks to accelerate the development and market potential of innovative young entrepreneurs and scientists (Chelala, 2008).
On two separate occasions, I had the opportunity to facilitate business learning with middle school youth and high school teens. Both times, I did not want to end the experience. I was always impressed with just how much more advanced these young people were than I expected. Their ability to be creative is unhampered by life experience, they are willing to execute with zeal if given the opportunity. I always learned from them.
If you are interested in supporting the youth in our society, there are many initiatives and organizations you can get involved with – see my Youth Entrepreneurship page for a few suggestions.
If you know of any others, please share by commenting.
