Our founder and CEO, Francisco Santolo, after being a speaker at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance in Buenos Aires in 2018, had the honor in 2019 of representing Argentina in this event which brings together important young entrepreneurs' organizations of G20 member countries. This organization aims, year after year, at promoting a change in the global economy and, in this opportunity, from Fukuoka, Japan identified Imagination Economy - For a Sustainable Future- as a key theme.
Participants called on G20 leaders to harness the potential of the digital economy to contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. An Argentine delegation made up of representatives of the Argentine Union of Young Entrepreneurs (UNAJE) and CAME Young participated in the Tenth Edition of the G20 YEA Annual Summit.
In total, 400 young entrepreneurs representing 20 business organizations signed a document and called on the presidents of the G20 member countries to take advantage of the transformative potential of the digital economy as a lever to contribute to the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN by 2030. The 14th Annual G20 YEA Summit focused on the challenge of imagining an economy for a sustainable future. The relevance of the Summit lies in the ideas that young people promote, but also in the impact generated by the companies they lead today.
It is estimated that there are more than 500,000 young entrepreneurs who lead small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world. So-called SMEs are the main job creators in their countries, occupying more than two-thirds of the private sector workforce and providing more than 80% of net employment growth.
The 5 requests and 5 recommendations from young entrepreneurs to G20 leaders were: “Mobility and entrepreneurship across borders”, “Improve access to finance and capital”, “Support entrepreneurship as a means to meet social and environmental challenges”, “Invest in digital infrastructure and services for shared development and growth”, “Ensure entrepreneurial education quality for tomorrow’s society”.
- The creation and ratification of free trade agreements will facilitate market access and encourage the creation of global companies. In this sense, the G20 YEA recommendation is to support cross-border mobility by simplifying visa programs for young G20 entrepreneurs.
- For new companies to multiply, adequate financial infrastructure and fair access to financing for young entrepreneurs are necessary. That is why the young entrepreneurs who are members of the G20 recommend the creation of digital platforms to quickly access information on financial instruments, adequate grants, and grants in particular for projects that are in the public interest.
- Governments, companies and civil society must actively work together on the Agenda for Sustainable Development and transform existing companies and create companies that contribute to a more inclusive, sustainable and youth-friendly society. This is why the resolution of the summit is to recommend world leaders to promote sustainable business models by creating and adopting business support policies and programs with a positive impact on people and the environment.
- Innovation and digitization of products and services will continue to have a positive impact on our economy and society. That is why it becomes essential to generate public policies related to the protection of data circulation, privacy, and cybersecurity. Young entrepreneurs recommend implementing e-government to simplify administration processes, creating friendly environments for companies and SMEs.
- In addition, promote open data initiatives when public data is available (respecting privacy and intellectual property rights) to encourage new products and services development. There is a mismatch between the demand and supply of labor, especially for companies that are active in the digital transformation field. That is why G20 YEA members encourage governments to include “entrepreneurial skills” as a fundamental part of their educational systems to promote practical entrepreneurial education in schools and universities so all students are trained in the practical elements of the entrepreneurial spirit.
