This document is the outcome of research initiated by a team of ISED Small Enterprise Observatory. It is meant to present the ISED perspective relating to ‘Youth Enterprise Development’ in the context of the ongoing Pandemic, COVID-19, and to put in place, the outline of a research agenda.

There has been an enhanced global interest in youth entrepreneurship today. Three key reasons explain that: a) the growing share of youth in the world population; b) the mounting situation of unemployment; and c) rapid changes in technology, where the young are expected to be more technology savvy. Besides the above three reasons, there is another objective ground for a focus on youth entrepreneurship: Unlike in the past, technological platforms today offer better and quicker solutions. At the macroeconomic level, this implies a progressive trend towards ‘servitization’ of the economy, which means, the proportionate share of services exceed that of real manufacturing. Creation of new businesses, in policy circles today, is largely perceived in terms of technology start-ups. However, COVID-19, the Pandemic, has drastically changed the scene. The medical stipulation of physical distancing, and the need for social connectivity as a means of survival economic activities, makes livelihoods strategies really complex. An escalation in the use of technology platforms in a more decentralized form than ever, is seen as a possible solution. However, the economic structure, in general, has come down to a lop-sided mode, demanding a search for alternatives.

This paper characterizes the structural and rural transformation of the Asia and the Pacific region (APR), highlighting the implications for rural youth opportunities and challenges, and identifying and elaborating on the characteristics, opportunities and challenges related to rural youth inclusion. Nearly half of the population in Asia is urban, with the proportion projected to rise to 59 per cent by 2035. Except for China, the majority of youth still reside in rural areas. Youth labour force participation is higher in rural than urban areas, and for males than females. Rural youth in countries with low structural transformation and low rural transformation continue to rely on agriculture for employment; in countries with high levels of transformation, a majority of rural youth are now employed outside agriculture (though it is still the biggest contributor to rural youth employment). About one fifth of youth in Asia are not in education, employment or training. More than 86 per cent of employed youth in Asia and the Pacific are in the informal sector, greater than the proportion of informal employment among adult workers.

The prospect of widespread youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa (henceforth ‘Africa’) is a serious concern for governments today, both on the subcontinent and in developed countries. Underlying this is a sense of alarm or urgency, borne out of the view that Africa’s ‘youth bulge’ is an unprecedented global challenge, and that African economies will struggle to absorb enough young job seekers in the coming decades. Concerns are particularly pronounced in rural Africa, where most of the world’s poor population reside and where farming is still the main livelihood for most households. The conventional view is that African youth do not aspire to work in agriculture, because the sector is characterized by low productivity and is far from the dynamic lifestyles offered by cities. Yet job prospects in Africa’s cities and towns are also limited, and so most young Africans will inevitably need to find work somewhere in the rural economy.

Enabling young rural women and men to become productive, connected and in charge of their own future requires thinking differently about the diverse settings in which they seek to thrive, the multiple constraints they face and the dynamics of change in the world that create challenges and opportunities for them.