Why Entrepreneurs Should Take a Gamble on Young People

By now, you’ve heard it everywhere: Today’s college graduates face a job crunch the likes of which young Americans have not faced since the Great Depression.

It’s a perfect storm of negative circumstances for 20-somethings: a sluggish economy, a record number of college graduates seeking white-collar work and a recent financial crisis that wiped out the retirement savings of older workers, preventing their jobs from turning over on schedule. By all accounts, the supply of professional jobs comes nowhere close to meeting the demand of young job seekers.

What most people aren’t talking about, however, is the other side of the supply and demand curve. When jobs are in short supply, it's a great time to be a supplier. And with so many qualified, ambitious young people out of work, small businesses have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to recruit from a large pool of top talent.

It’s a matter of simple trickle-down capitalism. The most desirable entry-level jobs -- the positions at Fortune 500 companies that have traditionally attracted the top graduates of elite universities -- are tougher to come as a result of lower retirement rates, industry losses and slow growth, leaving the best and brightest graduates to set their sights on second-tier opportunities.

The effects of the job crunch cascade down the line of graduates, making thousands of young people available to employers that they may not have considered otherwise. In 2000, success meant Wall Street or a dotcom firm. Today, it’s just having a job.

This should be music to the ears of entrepreneurs. Bright young college graduates are willing to take a chance on small businesses and startups. Now, it’s your turn to take a chance on them, even though the risks of hiring in an economy where capital remains tight can be substantial.

The decision to hire a 22-year-old without a lot of work experience isn’t one that's likely to lead to short-term profits. Employers can find it a more time-intensive effort to bring a new graduate up to speed as opposed to onboarding someone who knows their way around the workplace. But when this activity is viewed as an investment, finding the right young person in this job market can be a decision that pays dividends for years.

Young people bring energy, ambition, fresh ideas and familiarity with modern technology to workplaces. They also represent blank slates of sorts for small business owners, as they haven’t been socialized to follow the practices of another company and aren’t set into routines or working styles that more seasoned hires may have a difficult time of shedding. Hiring an employee directly out of school gives employers the opportunity to shape a person's professional growth and development -- an experience that can be rewarding on both a personal and monetary level.

Members of this generation of young people, undoubtedly shaped by the job crunch, have also proved to be exceedingly loyal to their employers, reducing a certain amount of risk by increasing the probability that employers will be able to recoup their onboarding costs.

Tom Nearny, CEO of United States Liability Insurance Group of Wayne, Penn., hires new graduates every year. He recently told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his retention rate in recent years has been near 100 percent. Of the experience of working with young people, he said, "It helps me learn how they see things, how they hear things, how they understand our culture. It helps fuels things. I’ve just been amazed at how much talent there is.”

Politicians have repeated ad nauseum that small businesses and entrepreneurs are the engines that drive job creation. And with the 1.8 million members of the class of 2014 hitting the streets this month, this is entrepreneurs' opportunity to be a part of that engine. The road to recovery begins when entrepreneurs take risks, and the buyer’s market for youth employment has never been hotter.

From Entrepreneur

Young Entrepreneurs Advised to Look Beyond Capital Support

Africa has produced some famous entrepreneurs over the years. The most notable among them is Ashish Thakkar, who has become a role model to youth throughout the continent.

At the young age of 32, Thakkar is recognized by Forbes Magazine as Africa's youngest billionaire, boasting a net worth of US $260 million, with a wide range of investments all over the continent.

Thakkar appeared as a guest speaker on Tuesday, May 20, during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Kigali, Rwanda.

The session titled "Enterprising Africa" introduced other speakers who are well-versed in job creation and youth challenges, including Felix Bikpo, CEO of African Guarantee Fund (AGF), Benjamin Gasamagera, Chairperson of Rwanda Private Sector Federation, and Valentine Rugwabizi, CEO of Rwanda Development Board.

At the session, Thakkar's life story as a refugee turned successful businessman, was presented as an inspiration to African youth with a dream to be entrepreneurs.

"Africa needs young brave young people, like Thakkar, who have dazzling projects. We all agree that their biggest challenge is access to finance - but what banks want is to give money to someone with an interesting idea and who has the skills to manage it well," Felix Bikpo said.

"Young people must know that we are here to help and that the avenues for getting finances are open to those who are brave and confident."

Valentine Rugwabizi of Rwanda Development Board said that some of the youth in Africa have brilliant ideas, but they are limited by the conservativeness of financial institutions that hesitate to risk with "untested waters."

"Banks all over the world are conservative and usually want to work with people or institutions they are well versed with. This therefore, provides an opportunity to non-banking institutions, like telecoms and cooperate companies, to come up with financing packages for business projects developed by the youth," she said.

"Governments must also create enabling environments that are conducive for entrepreneurial ideas among young people. This can be through giving them free advice, resources like Internet and energy."

For his part, Thakkar called on youth to prioritize entrepreneurship ahead of job-seeking.

"Seeking jobs is crucial. Seeking capital to startup businesses is also crucial. But the most important thing that young people need is mentorship. They need support and advice while they endeavour to develop the ultimate project that could define their lives," Thakkar said.

"In South Africa, 65% of the jobs are created by SMEs, yet four out of five of them fail," he continued. "This shows that many of them could have lacked mentorship in their inception phases. We are supposed to fix this through mentorship and through realistic African stories that inspire young people to overcome huddles in business."

Although job creation is paramount, it must be supplemented by entrepreneurship in order to satisfy 12 million youth that seek for jobs every year, according to Mouhamadou Niang, Acting Director of the AfDB's Private Sector Department.

The session also discussed issues related to gender disparities and economic opportunities for marginalized groups, technical advice and tips to operating successful businesses, as well as the role of coaching.

From All Africa

5 tips for achieving your life goals

Life goals can sometimes seem like unattainable pipe dreams, but follow our five top tips and you'll find your goals are closer than you think.

1. Dream big, but dream SMART

Dreaming big is a good thing - it's important to be ambitious - but more important is being clear, realistic and SMART. Your goals need to be:

Specific: know exactly what you want

Measurable: you need to know if you're progressing towards your goal, otherwise you'll always be chasing

Achievable: make it realistic. That doesn't mean 'aim low', but it does mean don't break the laws of physics (or any other laws, for that matter)

Rewarding: goals should be for you. Don't aim for something just because you think you should

Timed: include a rough idea of when you want to reach your goal, so you don't keep putting it off. For example, to own a house by the time you're 40, or retire at 60

2. Budget accurately

We're often told to 'budget wisely', but wisdom is vague and subjective. As you probably guessed from the T in SMART, we think accuracy is far more valuable.

While it might seem a chore to painstakingly record the ins and outs of your finances, there's an easier way. Our free Money Dashboard money management software lets you combine all of your online account details in one easy-to-read display, offering a range of attractive graphs, tables and tagging options to give you a clear view of your financial situation.

3. Consider every opportunity

Another adage that deserves closer scrutiny is 'carpe diem' (seize the day). There's a balance between sticking to a well-worked plan and taking advantage of the chances life throws your way. Take the time to assess whether a new development can benefit you, don't just grab or dismiss it instantly. And when you seize an opportunity, make the most of it.

A good personal finance example is the lure of credit card cashback schemes. Getting money back on your purchases is a great way of earning from weekly shops and monthly direct debits. But accumulate more debt than you can cover, or give in to impulse purchases, and you'll find the interest costs outweigh the cashback. The lesson being: consider opportunities carefully.

4. Enjoy the small things

The best things in life are free. Make an effort to find free events and activities in your area, plan simple, tasty meals, and take pleasure in each small victory on the road to achieving your goals: whether it's hitting a monthly savings target, losing your first kilo of weight, or finding a course that could advance your career prospects.

If you learn to enjoy the small things, you'll soon find you have the time, money and energy you need to achieve big things.

5. Learn from your mistakes

Even with clear planning, a cautious approach and a positive attitude, things will go wrong. The important thing is to stay strong, learning from your mistakes, and keeping focussed on your goal.

If you have any other tips you'd like to share, let us know in the comments below!

From Money Dashboard

China Loans US$28.9 Billion to Female Entrepreneurs

Song Xiuyan, vice president and first member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), delivers a key-note speech at the 2014 APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Women and the Economy, under the 2014 APEC Women and the Economy Forum held in Beijing on May 22. [Women of China/ Fan Wenjun]

The total loans-without-interest released for women's small and medium-size entrepreneurial projects have accumulated to 180 billion yuan (U.S. $28.9 billion) in China, with government-financed loans reaching 11.3 billion yuan (U.S. $1.8 billion) since 2009.

This data was released by Song Xiuyan, vice president and first member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), when she delivered a key-note speech at the 2014 APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Women and the Economy, under the 2014 APEC Women and the Economy Forum held in Beijing on May 22.

Song said, in order to solve the fund shortage faced by millions of women in China in their efforts to alleviate poverty or to start their own business, the Chinese government has issued small-amount secured loans based on the financial discount policy since 2009. This has effectively supported millions of women in their employment and entrepreneurship.

Song noted that China has the largest population of women in the world. After the three decades long opening-up and reform policy, China has entered a new phase with the need to change its development mode. During this process, women's role in economic development has become more and more important. Women's development is seen as an important part of the whole nation's economic and social development plan.

Song said that the Chinese government has supported women in order to make good use of economic factors, including fund and land management, through legislation and policy support. The government has strengthened training and guidance work on enhancing women's vocational skills, and promoted women's economic empowerment through developing professional organizations and the introduction of specialized projects.

However, Song also noted: "Women in China are still facing many problems and challenges in sharing the economic resources and economic income distribution. For example, women are mainly in a lower level of employment in the labor market. And there is still gender discrimination and an income gap existing between men and women in the labor market. So we still need to work harder to solve these issues in the future."

The APEC Women and the Economy Forum is one of the ministerial-level meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). More than 300 delegations from the 20 member economies of APEC, the APEC Secretariat, and the APEC Business Advisory Council attended this year's forum, which was held in Beijing from May 21-23, 2014. The theme of this year's forum is to 'Unite women's strength and boost the Asia-Pacific Economy'.

Source: Xinhua/ Translated end edited by Women of China

The 10 Scary Thoughts Every Startup Founder Secretly Has At Least Once

Even the most confident entrepreneurs doubt themselves sometimes.

One of our earliest team members, who left to start his own company, sent us an email recently. I'll paraphrase here, but the gist of it was that despite his being one of the first people to join the team at Ampush, nothing could have prepared him for starting his own company from the ground up.

I'm not surprised. Startup founders are often portrayed as "living the dream": Young, bright, usually C-level executives of their companies, working on "cool stuff;" running "The Show." It must seem like an incredibly attractive career option. You don't have to work up the corporate ladder at BigCo, or even be employed by the startup itself.

But reality looks a little different. While there are great articles that give advice for working at a startup and that outline the startup social contract, very few give an open and honest view of what it's actually like to be a founder/startup executive. (Though Quora offers some solid opinions.)

I thought I'd share my own view. Below is a list of 10 things a startup founder often thinks, but will rarely admit out loud:

1. "I don't know the answer."

The entrepreneurial process is by definition one of making it up as we go. It's important for startup founders and even employees to accept that we don't (and won't) know the answer often. Instead, we have to focus on how to get answers, either by experimenting on our own or by cultivating a strong network — and then relying on this network for advice.

2. "Our company is going under."

Whether or not it's true, this is a thought that probably flashes through every founder's head. Because founders know their business so intimately, they can point blindfolded to the three potential things in the market that would run their business into the ground. Founders who succeed are the ones with the personality and drive to do whatever it takes to keep their company alive.

3. "I'm doing more work than you know."

Whatever work you see a founder doing, they're actually doing five times as much behind the scenes. Until a company is several hundred people strong, all the other jobs that have to get done go to the founders. This includes but is not limited to: a potential acquisition; a threatened lawsuit; settling a dispute between two VPs; and any other task we can't delegate, but have to complete.

4. "I sometimes wish I had a boss."

Decision fatigue is real and when we are the ultimate authorities, most decisions trickle up to us. Founders can't look up one level and get the answer. Our decision is there for every client, employee, and partner to analyze, criticize and doubt.

5. "I do take it personally."

We try not to, but we do. Whether you're an employee who chose to work at our startup, a partner or a client — if you're unhappy, it makes us unhappy. We started our company because we believed there was a better way. If someone at any level of the company is unhappy, we take it personally and want to do everything we can to fix it. Really.

6. "I hate office politics."

Founders generally prefer to concentrate on designing and building products or developing a pitch for a big client. What we don't enjoy is breaking up arguments, dealing with he says/she says scenarios or negotiating someone's job title. We just want to lead and continue to make the company successful.

7. "I miss the early days."

The workplace dynamic changes very fast when a company goes from five to 15 to 50. Admittedly, we find ourselves nostalgic for the days of familial camaraderie, knowing everyone's story, and being able to move quickly. At the same time, we as founders are ambitious and want the company to grow — but we try our best to maintain that intimate feeling as we scale.

8. "I'm struggling with work-life balance. A lot."

Yes, we have this issue in spades. While we do live for our company, we also know it can kill us. We don't go to the gym enough, we eat horribly, and we don't spend enough time with loved ones. Entrepreneurship can be a very selfish thing. We need to learn to manage our time better and to unplug to make entrepreneurship more sustainable.

9. "I sometimes question the sacrifice I made."

This one is a big taboo. How can we ask other people to work crazy hours to build this company when we ourselves ask the question, "Is it worth it?" But founders are humans too. When we are working 100-hour weeks, investing all our money, and sometimes hitting walls, we will question what we are doing in the first place.

10. "I'm not living the dream, I'm living in a dream."

As our company gets traction and starts to scale, sometimes it doesn't feel quite "real." It's exciting but also surreal! This explains why we may have unrealistic expectations or why we don't always appreciate the gravity of our words or decisions for the rest of the company. Oftentimes what we're working on does not feel like a reality — it still feels like a dream.

From Business Insider

Cynthia M. Allen: Where have all the entrepreneurs gone?

Last month, in an event that went largely unnoticed, President Obama appointed 11 new ambassadors for global entrepreneurship.

The eager purveyors of the American way are responsible for inspiring and helping fledgling business owners in the U.S. and abroad to become part of the "next generation of entrepreneurs."

As someone who believes deeply in the power of a healthy and dynamic private sector to build strong economies, lift people from poverty and create broad prosperity, I'm delighted that the president is looking to export what is surely one of our nation's greatest assets: our entrepreneurial spirit.

But as we work to inspire and encourage innovators on other continents, we cannot ignore that business dynamism - the process through which businesses begin and fail, create, destroy and transfer jobs - has taken a nose dive at home.

And the economic implications are huge.

It may come as a shock, but entrepreneurism has actually been in danger for decades, although it has fallen off a cliff in recent years.

Census data from 1978 to 2011 (the latest year available) show that while the number of business deaths has held relatively steady for the last 30 years, the number of businesses being created is trending downward.

In 2006, that downward trend went from gradual to precipitous, a sharp decline that a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution called "disturbing."

Americans established fully 27 percent fewer businesses in 2011 than they did five years prior.

And around 2008, the number of businesses exiting the market actually exceeded the number of firms opening their doors.

Yikes.

It's easy in a state like Texas, where the economy is humming along, to think the trend is isolated; it's not. Texas' new-business entry rate from 2009-2011 was almost 36 percent lower than it was from 1978-1980, although the exit rate was largely unchanged. And multiple studies confirm that the decline is universal, affecting every sector of the economy.

As the Brookings study explains, an economy in constant churn "forces labor and capital to be put to better uses," thereby catalyzing innovation and spurring new enterprises. And "when business dynamism is spiraling," says small-business writer Jean Card, "when small firms" - the historic driver of new employment - "are not creating jobs, economic recovery cannot be complete."

This might help explain the inertia that is holding our current recovery captive, and it also hints at other concerns, raised by columnist James Pethokoukis: "Without competition from new companies, old ones will pursue only the sort of 'efficiency innovation' that makes production cheaper. ..." That means they will do things like automate and cut employment, and the consequent lack of job competition could cause wages to stagnate, even decline.

Similarly, decreased dynamism allows "established players" to "win through lobbying what they can't achieve in the marketplace," also known as crony capitalism, which further solidifies the downward cycle of indifference to innovation and economic decline.

Yes, all of this is very troubling and solutions will not come easily, but finding and implementing them before the trend lines dip further is imperative.

Politicians will argue about the causes; those on the right will point to a suffocating regulatory environment that creates barriers to entry. Those on the left will finger increasing economic inequality. Increasing student loan debt, declining productivity and deeply embedded structural barriers will also get some well-deserved blame.

There is little doubt that all of these causes play their role in our floundering business dynamism, and each must be addressed.

It will take a comprehensive and bipartisan approach to turn the tide, one that seeks to simplify the tax code, takes a less punitive approach to small-business regulation and yes, one that pursues immigration reform that increases visas for immigrant entrepreneurs and encourages them to remain in the United States - at least that's a start.

So while I'm all for promoting entrepreneurial diplomacy abroad, it's time for a little economic nation-building at home.

From BND.Com

Local entrepreneurs mark 20 years in the Hawkeye business

Brook Peterson, left, and David Gallagher own Bravo Sports Marketing,
 which is marking its 20th anniversary this spring.

          

Iowa is filled with passionate Hawkeye supporters, but David Gallagher and Brook Peterson are among the few who have made a career out of their fandom.

For the past 20 years, the two University of Iowa business school graduates, through their company Bravo Sports Marketing, have been hosting corporate tailgates, arranging hotel accommodations and selling memorabilia to fervent Hawkeye fans like themselves.

"We mixed two passions together, loving sports and loving the Hawkeyes, and bringing it together to make a business of it," said Gallagher, who with Peterson is marking their business's 20th anniversary this month.

The two met in graduate school pursuing their MBAs at UI, and they worked together as marketing interns for the Athletics Department.

In 1994, the Hawkeyes were coming off a pair of ho-hum football seasons and season ticket sales were dwindling, so UI athletics administrators discussed creating a new sales plan to draw large groups or corporate groups to games. Gallagher and Peterson seized the opportunity.

"Dave and I were just finishing school, and they didn't necessarily have the staff to do it, so we formed our company and put together a proposal to do it," Peterson said.

The two have been in the sports hospitality business ever since. Today their North Liberty-based company operates the Hawkeye Village, the corporate and large-group tailgating area that hosts hundreds and sometimes thousands of fans on football gamedays.

Bravo Sports has a contract through UI's multimedia partner, Hawkeye Sports Properties, to sell ticket and tailgate packages for the Hawkeye Village, which provides food and entertainment before home football games at the Duane Banks Baseball Complex near Kinnick Stadium.

"A lot of the people we attract don't have season tickets or regular tailgating plans set, so we create that environment for them," Peterson said of the corporate groups they work with. "A lot of times we also have an alumni association from the opposing team there, so it adds to the spirit of gameday for everybody."

And Gallagher and Peterson aren't just busy during home games. Their company also secures blocks of hotel rooms for Hawkeye fans for select road games, and they organize events in other cities in conjunction with Hawkeye games. For instance, they've arranged a Hawkeye Day at Wrigley Field and have hosted tailgate parties before bowl games.

The company also has branched out to merchandise sales over the past decade. In 2004, Gallagher and Peterson partnered with UI to salvage nearly 8,000 bricks from Kinnick Stadium that were left over from a renovation project to sell to fans.

They're also a licensee for Hawkeye merchandise and currently produce and sell everything from T-shirts to posters to bowl buttons, and they supply local retailers with Hawkeye items.

"They're great examples of two young guys who love the Hawks, who are entrepreneurial and who have been able to evolve as the business world evolved over the last couple of decades," said UI associate director of athletics for external relations Rick Klatt, who has worked with Gallagher and Peterson over the years. "They are able to identify some things that private entrepreneurs like themselves can do much more simply, more efficiently than the university could. They certainly help us tell the Hawkeye story."

The company's success is tied largely to the success of UI's sports teams, for better or worse, depending on the season. And right now, with the men's and women's basketball teams coming off NCAA tournament seasons, and the football team fresh off an Outback Bowl appearance, it's a good time to be in the Hawkeye business.

"The schedule and how well Iowa is doing is a big part of it," Peterson said. "We do a lot better in a bowl season than when they go 4-8 — that affects us significantly. And it's not just the ticket packages; people buy fewer T-shirts and collectables. It's funny how when things start rolling, like they are in basketball right now, people want to show their Hawkeye pride."

As for the future, Gallagher and Peterson have begun coordinating pregame parties for companies at sporting events beyond the University of Iowa, including at NFL and NHL games, and will continue to look for new opportunities, they say.

"But our first passion, love and responsibility is with the Hawkeyes," Gallagher said.

From Press Citizen