New entrepreneurs

Carl Schramm* offers an intriguing perspective on what he calls the third wave of entrepreneurship

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It is easy to belittle the notion of youth entrepreneurship. To quite a few people, the notion itself still evokes images of lemonade stands which children set up in their neighbourhood -- often at their parents' prodding -- to prove their commercial mettle and future potential.

In today's society, however, young people may well represent the third major wave of new sources of entrepreneurship destined to have a major impact on the global economy. The two major waves before them were the empowerment of women, and the boom of microfinance.

As improbable as it may seem to some that young people could become a major source of start-up businesses, it is useful to remember that the same doubts were sported about women entrepreneurs not so long ago. And micro-lending too was seen as little more than a passing fad promoted by some misty-eyed idealists stimulating entrepreneurial energies in so-called Third World economies.

At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that the specific outcomes of promoting youth entrepreneurship are, as with all entrepreneurial ventures, uncertain. What is clear, though, is how pivotal it is to get the conversation about this topic started, among both young people themselves as well as policymakers.

Once entrepreneurship enters into the realm of possibility of career options in the minds of young people, it becomes a dynamic organising principle for society at large. This entails far more than changes in the school curriculum, as important as they are.

In effect, it changes not only the conversation about the national economy itself, but ultimately also a nation's economic DNA. Traditionally, engaging in entrepreneurial activities in many societies around the world, if it was on the horizon at all, has been seen primarily as the domain of children of well-to-do parents, and hence an elite pursuit. Truth be told, nothing is as stifling for an economy as keeping concepts of entrepreneurship outside the classroom. Even if that has been the reality in too many countries, today's agenda everywhere is to open up the world of business so that many more young people are given a chance to get engaged.

Opening up entrepreneurship to younger people on a broader basis thus becomes an integral part of the wider democratisation process that is underway in the world at large. Its core message is clear enough: economic opportunity is not directly linked to social status.

Many emerging economies, from Eastern Europe and Asia to Latin America and Africa, are still immersed in a profound transformation towards genuine market-based economies. Opening the horizons of young people towards the opportunities of entrepreneurship creates a natural constituency to strengthen those market mechanisms -- and is bound to expand an economy's potential.

Youth's relative ease with technology, their desire to explore new horizons and their ambition to make a better life for themselves than what was possible for their parents' generation is a powerful driving force, one which has led to real achievements from the booming cities of China all the way to Africa.

In the industrialised world, young people, while operating in a very different environment, are arriving at conclusions that make a stronger emphasis on entrepreneurship in the national policy agenda a necessity as well. Interestingly, that is even true for those who are not thinking of themselves as real entrepreneurs.

While some lament that the days of lifelong employment with one company are essentially gone, the young generation in Western countries, admittedly to varying degrees, welcomes those changes. Most young people, and not just in the United States, prefer not to live out their entire career with one company. Whether by necessity or desire, or a combination of both, a more entrepreneurial approach to one's career, along with an openness to change and new pursuits, is becoming the norm, not the exception.

That even applies to those pursuing a career within large companies. In a world of shrinking staff sizes and ever more global competition, an entrepreneurial attitude among employees is viewed as an asset even in those formerly bureaucratic organisations. While this entails the acceptance of more risk and a greater openness to change, it also signals a shift from a more passive way of thinking about life to a more active stance. That may sound discomforting to some, but then again, given the profound changes underway in the global economy, there really isn't an alternative to adapting to a more entrepreneurial concept of one's own work life.

At a time when the global economy is under considerable stress, it is wise to look for new ideas and impulses, and to open one's mind to new possibilities and indeed realities. More exposure to entrepreneurial thinking throughout the young generation, if not society as a whole, also strengthens a sense of economic realism in times marked by tough competition.

The reality we share gives us plenty of reason to believe that it is time for today's young generation to embrace the notion of entrepreneurship in a much more meaningful and comprehensive way than their parents did. And the fact that young people really are responding to this reality, we cannot but embrace it as a vital step forward.

* The author is president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, co-founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a youth-oriented event held in countries all around the world in the week of 17-23 November, 2008. For Egypt- specific activities, go to http://unleashingideas.org/ country/EG.