News Releases
ImagineNations Co-Sponsors Second-Ever Global Youth Enterprise Conference
International Gathering Brings Together Lead Experts, Practitioners, Educators
Alan H. Fleischmann Serves as Moderator and Speaker at Plenary
Washington, DC (15 September 2008) -ImagineNations is co-sponsoring the 2nd annual Global Youth Enterprise Conference, held September 15-16 at George Washington University. The two-day event brings together for the second time ever the world's leading experts, practitioners and educators in youth microenterprise, entrepreneurship and livelihood development.
"ImagineNations Group is enthusiastic to once again play a role as sponsor of such an important conference to share lessons learned and to explore new practices and ideas that create economic opportunities for young people," said Alan H. Fleischmann, co-founder and managing director of ImagineNations Group, one of the main conference sponsors. "Building on the success of last year's youth enterprise conference, we believe it is important to continue to foster the fields of youth enterprise and economic development to address the global challenge of unemployment by inspiring a new era of youth-led entrepreneurism."
Fleischmann is participating in the conference as moderator of the plenary session, "The Role of the Private Sector: Doing Well While Doing Good."
The Global Youth Enterprise Conference takes place at a time when one of the most sobering global challenges is the lack of decent work opportunities for young people. With the global youth population reaching a historical high of 1.5 billion, economies worldwide are increasingly unable to provide young people with jobs. Over the next decade alone, the International Labour Organization expects more than one billion young people will enter the global labor market. The gap between global youth labor supply and actual labor market demand presents a great challenge for developing countries in particular. Conference organizers and participants recognize there is an urgent need to ensure that young people are able to lead healthy and productive lives that contribute to socio-economic development in their communities.
The Conference is convening more than 350 practitioners, donors, educators, young people, members of the private sector and representatives of governments in youth enterprise, entrepreneurship, and livelihood development from 48 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America to address the following critical issues:
- Market-Driven Approaches
- Effective Methodologies and Practices for Monitoring, Evaluating and Conducting Impact Assessments
The learning that happens throughout the two-day event will be captured and shared through a conference report, Youth Microenterprise and Livelihoods: State of the Field Lessons from the 2008 Global Youth Enterprise Conference, published and co-written with the support of ImagineNations research staff and development finance experts. Last year's publication was downloaded by people in 52 countries. If you would like to review a copy of the 2007 report, please visit www.imaginenations.org.
The conference is organized by Making Cents International, a D.C.-based consulting and training firm whose mission is to equip entrepreneurs of all ages in the U.S. and around the world with the necessary vision, confidence and skills to create, develop and manage their own businesses.
ImagineNations® Group is a global alliance of social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, investors, financial institutions, global brands, media and organizations-all working together to empower and inspire a new generation of successful young adults in the developing world with opportunities, employment and livelihood. ImagineNations and its partners are working to create innovative, large-scale investment strategies that promote development opportunities for young people (ages 15-29) across the globe with specific initiatives in South-East Asia, southern Africa, and across the Middle East and North Africa.