Youth Business Trust

Do you have an idea for a business but unable to raise the capital you need from anywhere else?

We may be able to help you get up and running.

With support from Youth Business Trust Belize, you may be eligible for:

• A start-up loan.
• Ongoing advice from a volunteer business mentor.
• Access to local business networks.
• Access to training workshops and trade fairs.
• And much more...

At Youth Business Trust Belize, we want to help our young people to help themselves by "creating a job" through self-employment.

Youth Business Trust Belize is a pilot initiative of the Youth Business International network, a programme organisation of the International Business Leaders Forum. Our aim is to support or create viable and sustainable business that would contribute to the economic and social development of Belize.

Did you know that over 60% of young persons in Belize are Below the age of 35?

As a young and developing nation, Belize is faced with demographic, social, and economic challenges that impact on its young people and influence the context within which youth enterprise initiatives evolve. Poverty data has identified young people in Belize as being particularly susceptible to impoverished conditions resulting from a confluence of factors including fractured family units, low educational achievement and unhealthy lifestyles. Many young people in Belize are not economically active within the wage economy due to insufficient skills to match employers’ needs, low productivity, poor attitudes toward work environments especially challenging ones and limited wage employment opportunities overall.

The 2006 Human Development Index, published by the United Nations Development Programme, ranks Belize as 95 out of 177 countries, with a noticeable decline from 91 in 2003.

The unemployment rate is 11.6% (with male unemployment at 8.3% and female employment at 17.4%). Youth unemployment in Belize has increased from 16.1% in 1990 to 21.8% in 2003 and 21.3% in 2005. Unemployment for females aged 16 – 24 years is twice that of their Belizean male counterparts and youth unemployment accounts for over 55% of the unemployed labour force..

The Youth Business Trust Belize is now the only local economic development initiative in Belize that focuses on young persons that are graduates and links them to business mentors, enterprise development assistance, and micro-financing to develop micro-enterprises. The programme also receives mentorship support from the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Belize Rotary Club. The mentors provide entrepreneurs with support that includes: Business Plan Development, Pro Bono advice (Accounting, Legal, Marketing, Finance), Business Skills Training, Networking Opportunities and Product Promotion. The challenge faced by Youth Business Trust Belize during the piloted phase was on leveraging corporate social investment in the programme, particularly by garnering corporate sponsorship of the micro-credit component to further support the development and viability of youth enterprises.

"Contributing to the social and economic development of Belize and the region"

The programme will contribute to the development of Belize by utilizing an assets based approach which places the development of the young individual as the central, dynamic, and essential contributor to the progress and sustainability of his or her community, nation and global society.

We are currently partnering with our fellow Youth Business programmes in the Caribbean and Latin America.

• Barbados
• Jamaica
• Guyana
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Mexico
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Uruguay
• Colombia

It will be government-endorsed but not government-managed and is innovative, creative, while selectively targeting enthusiastic young potential.