In 2017, the Committee of the Regions commissioned two studies on the subject of youth entrepreneurship, outlining the roles and competences of regions and cities in entrepreneurship policy and the measures adopted by local and regional authorities (LRAs) to promote and boost youth entrepreneurship.
This note complements these studies, providing an overview and analysis of youth entrepreneurship and policies to promote it in seven Mediterranean partner countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco and Turkey. It analyses the measures adopted to promote youth entrepreneurship in these countries. It sets out what cities and regions in the seven countries stand to gain from fostering youth entrepreneurship, what measures they can apply and how their activities can be helped by the national level and international cooperation.
The note also spells out how the national level can support LRAs in their efforts to promote youth entrepreneurship and assesses the contributions of international partners. Finally, it sets out recommendations on measures to be taken by LRAs, how they can be empowered by national and international cooperation and on possible ARLEM follow-up activities.
The note is based on desk research into examples of successful projects supporting youth entrepreneurship in the seven countries. This has been complemented by targeted interviews with key informants among international organisations active in the region and national and local stakeholders.
Measures to promote youth entrepreneurship fall mainly into four categories: (i) enterprise education, (ii) information, advice and assistance, (iii) microfinance in the form of loans, grants or other types of funding and (iv) provision of infrastructure for entrepreneurship (Greene, 2013). The seven case study countries cover examples of all four types of assistance.