Youth Business Development Training Program
Youth enterprise programmes across the Gulf, Africa and Asia are producing business plans in abundance. The businesses are another matter. Most youth entrepreneurship training teaches young people to describe a business idea in a structured format, it does not teach them the operational, financial and market realities of running one. The result is graduates with certificates and well-formatted plans who launch nothing, or launch something that collapses within six months because nobody addressed the gap between the idea and the viable business. This course trains the youth workers and enterprise practitioners who work with young entrepreneurs, giving them the specific knowledge, coaching skills and programme design capability to support young people all the way from idea to operating business.
The youth enterprise practitioner challenges this course addresses:
- You run a business plan competition and the winners celebrate. You follow up six months later and nothing has launched
- You deliver entrepreneurship training without understanding the specific market conditions young people are entering, your examples are from Silicon Valley, your participants are in Nairobi or Jeddah
- You are helping a young person with their business idea but you are not sure whether the idea is viable, you do not have a structured way to assess viability honestly without discouraging them
- Young women in your programme face barriers to entrepreneurship that go beyond skills: family opposition, restricted mobility, inability to access male supplier networks, and you do not know how to address these
- The young entrepreneurs you supported who launched businesses are struggling alone six months later with no ongoing support
This course gives enterprise practitioners the business knowledge, coaching skills and programme design capability to support young people from idea to viable, operating business.
Who Should Attend
Youth Enterprise Programme Staff
Staff in incubators, accelerators and enterprise development programmes working with young entrepreneurs.
Youth Workers Adding Enterprise
Youth development practitioners adding enterprise and business development components to their programmes.
Government Enterprise Programme Staff
Ministry staff running youth entrepreneurship programmes within Vision 2030, national youth employment and MSME strategies.
NGO and INGO Livelihoods Staff
Livelihoods and economic empowerment programme staff in NGOs who include enterprise development components.
Business Mentors and Coaches
Mentors working with young entrepreneurs who want a structured coaching approach for business development support.
Youth Microfinance Practitioners
Microfinance and savings group practitioners who want to complement financial support with business development skills.
What You Will Leave With
A complete youth business development practitioner toolkit.
Programme Outline
Why this module matters: Supporting young entrepreneurs without understanding the specific market context they are entering produces irrelevant support. Module 1 builds the market knowledge and viability assessment skills that practitioners need before they can help young people effectively.
- Youth entrepreneurship in the Gulf, Africa and Asia: opportunity, necessity, and the difference between them
- The specific market environments young entrepreneurs face in GCC, African and Asian contexts
- Assessing business viability: problem-solution fit, market size, competition, margins, founder capability
- How to give honest viability feedback without destroying motivation
- Vision 2030 enterprise support ecosystem in Saudi Arabia: Monshaat, Kafalah, Badir, and their implications for practitioners
- Workshop: participants assess a range of young entrepreneur business ideas using the viability framework
Why this module matters: Business development support that gives young people advice rather than building their capability produces dependency. Module 2 builds the coaching approach and financial literacy teaching skills that develop independent, capable young entrepreneurs.
- Business development coaching vs mentoring vs advice: why the distinction matters and how to coach rather than advise
- Structured coaching conversations for business development: from problem identification to action commitment
- Teaching financial fundamentals to young entrepreneurs: revenue, costs, cash flow, pricing for profit
- Common financial mistakes young entrepreneurs make, and how to build the habits that prevent them
- Separating business and personal finances: the most important habit a young entrepreneur can build
- Role-play: participants practice a business development coaching conversation
Session includes: coaching conversation practice with peer feedback
Why this module matters: Young entrepreneurs in GCC, African and Asian markets need marketing and sales approaches that reflect the actual channels and dynamics of their markets. Module 3 builds the practitioner knowledge to teach and coach these effectively.
- Marketing for young entrepreneurs in GCC markets: Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp Business, TikTok as primary channels
- Marketing for young entrepreneurs in African markets: WhatsApp, Facebook, market associations, word-of-mouth
- The customer discovery process: teaching young entrepreneurs to talk to customers before building products
- Sales skills for young entrepreneurs: pitching, handling objections, closing, following up
- Digital business models for young entrepreneurs: e-commerce, service delivery, digital products
- Workshop: participants design a marketing and sales coaching curriculum for a specific young entrepreneur group
Why this module matters: Young women entrepreneurs face specific barriers that require specific support approaches. And without access to finance, many viable young entrepreneur businesses cannot launch. Module 4 covers both.
- Gender barriers to youth entrepreneurship in GCC, African and Asian contexts: mobility, networks, family opposition, finance access
- Supporting young women entrepreneurs: specific programme design and coaching approaches
- The finance landscape for young entrepreneurs: microfinance, savings groups, government grants, angel investment, crowdfunding
- Youth entrepreneur finance in the Gulf: Monshaat funding programmes, Kafalah guarantees, youth-specific bank products
- Youth entrepreneur finance in Africa: savings and credit cooperatives, youth development funds, impact investors
- Preparing young entrepreneurs for finance applications: what lenders and investors want to see
Why this module matters: The support young entrepreneurs need after launch is different from the support they need before it, and most programmes stop at launch. Module 5 covers ongoing support design and closes with each participant's youth enterprise programme improvement plan.
- Why post-launch support is the most important and most neglected component of youth enterprise programmes
- Post-launch support models: peer networks, alumni mentoring, regular check-ins, crisis support
- Recognising and responding to business failure with young entrepreneurs: how to fail productively
- Programme design for youth business development: needs assessment, theory of change, curriculum, support model, evaluation
- Measuring enterprise programme outcomes: beyond business plans to sustainable businesses
- Programme improvement plan: specific changes each participant commits to making in their enterprise support approach
Common Questions
Is this course for practitioners supporting young entrepreneurs, or for young entrepreneurs themselves?
This course is for practitioners, youth workers, enterprise programme staff, coaches and mentors, who support young entrepreneurs. It builds the practitioner's knowledge and skills, not the young entrepreneur's directly. If you are looking for a course for young entrepreneurs themselves, the Business Management for Female Entrepreneurs course or our in-house enterprise training programmes may be more relevant.
Does the course address informal sector entrepreneurship?
Yes. A significant portion of the course is built around supporting young entrepreneurs operating in or entering the informal economy, which is the dominant economic reality for most young people in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. We do not assume a formal business environment.
Related Courses
Business Plans Do Not Build Businesses. Practitioners Who Know What They Are Doing Do.
Join enterprise practitioners from across the Gulf, Africa and Asia who have built the knowledge, coaching skills and programme design capability to support young people all the way from idea to viable, operating business.
We run this course as a private programme for organisations. Bespoke dates, tailored content, group pricing.
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