Young Business Entrepreneurs, a new non-profit, independent and legally recognised youth platform, was launched at the The Villa, Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa, Attard, in the presence of Dr Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds, representatives from the European Union Programme Agency, dignatries, excellencies and the youth.

Euchar Sultana, founder and Chief Executive Officer of YBE said that the youth platform aims to encourage and assist young adults to transform their innovative ideas into business opportunities.

He said that while the youth platform was being launched, 75 million young people were seeking employment internationally and in Europe close to one in four young people were out of work.

He added also that in Malta, 16% of the youth society are currently out of work. He emphasised that among the number of initiatives that should be taken to tackle youth unemployment, all decision makers from the private, public and independent bodies, must seriously consider young entrepreneurship as key element towards creating more quality job opportunities for youth.

He said that the number of young entrepreneurs in Malta only amounts to 0.7% out of the approximate total of 150,000 youth.

The launch was also addressed by Karl Engerer, representative of the EUPA which coordinates the Youth in Action programme and under which this project was fully financed.

Mr Engerer gave an overview of the Youth In Action programme and the opportunities it provides to youth. He also made reference to the new youth programme 2014 – 2020, Erasmus for all.

The official launch was followed by a start-up masterclass, addressed by five key business role models who shared their views about starting up. The speakers included Dean Gera, Founder of Dean Gera Hair studio, Dr Michelle Gialanze, Founder of the International Vocational College Malta, Luís Avides Moreira, director on the board of Banif Bank (Malta), Steve Falzon, Manager at Malta Enterprise and Joseph F.X. Zahra an economist, founding partner and managing director of MISCO