Social Business Development
How it works
Yunus & Youth is on a mission to promote youth employment and to foster local economies around the globe through partnerships with governments, international development organizations and grassroots movements. Based on our four-stage intervention model, several different programs have been designed and implemented in Latin America and Africa since 2014 with the main goal of empowering young people with the knowledge and resources they need to positively change the world.
Awareness
Y&Y inspires young people and presents social entrepreneurship as a powerful solution to create employment and financial freedom.
Ideation
Based on a Design Thinking approach, Y&Y leads the young social entrepreneurs through the process of understanding local challenges and the creation of innovative solutions.
Development
The Y&Y learning methodology allows the young social entrepreneurs to devise and develop their own business plans.
Implementation
The young social entrepreneurs implement their solutions and validate them with the support of expert local mentors.
COVID-19 Hackathon in Latin America
In response to COVID-19, Yunus & Youth launched a digital hackathon, in record time, to find solutions to the problems created by the virus in Latam. The solutions dealt with the issues of health, economic impact, social inclusion, data science, and other categories. Designed and implemented with 5 other organizations from the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, Cada Día Cuenta Hackathon was able to bring 7,000 persons from 18 different countries together to fight a global pandemic. The hackathon took place in early April 2020 and in 48 hours the results were:
– 600 initial ideas
– 3,600 participants
– 350 mentors
– 210 validated COVID-fighting solutions
Yunus & Youth will continue to actively support these 210 initiatives by giving them feedback, and will create a tailored pre-incubator COVID program specifically to support 5 of these solutions.
Social Business Journey in São Tomé and Príncipe
Designed and implemented by Y&Y in collaboration with UNDP São Tome and Príncipe, this program is dedicated to supporting young people in the development of innovative business solutions that address local socio-environmental issues, positively impacting the region and its economy. 150 young people were selected to attend a 14-week learning journey that resulted in 15 social business projects being selected to receive a total of US$100,000 of seed investment for implementation and one-year individual support by experienced local business mentors.
Social Business Weekend in Brazil
Yunus & Youth has identified a gap in skills and knowledge amongst young people interested in social development around the globe. Whilst young challengers are equipped with much enthusiasm and desire to challenge the status quo, they lack knowledge of the social business model and require practical support for implementing social business solutions. Over 500 young people have joined the Y&Y Social Business Weekends in Brazil and have had the opportunity to attend lectures and discussion panels with social entrepreneurs, social impact professionals, and academics. Guided by Design Thinking expert facilitators, participants engaged in exercises that allowed the creation of social business solutions to local problems.
