We hope to expand 50% into key new geographies with a goal of supporting entrepreneurs to create 3-4 million new jobs in 5-10 years.
Project Locations
Current
Lead Organization
The Endeavor Initiative Inc.
New York, New York, United States
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To learn more about – or provide significant funding to – this project, please contact Lever for Change.
Project Summary
Endeavor is seeking to accelerate expansion of its model for scaling high- impact entrepreneurs to address the most fundamental need of all societies: The ability for ALL individuals to find good jobs and support their families. As countries and cities worldwide confront the challenge of sustained job creation and economic development, building a healthy ecosystem of high impact entrepreneurs who stay in place brings enormous benefits. High-impact entrepreneurs, those who start and rapidly scale businesses to a significant size, have the ability to transform their home cities and countries. As individuals, high-impact entrepreneurs are job creators, role models and eventually business and civic leaders. As a community, they form an ecosystem that is the key to sustainable economic growth. Nowhere is this more apparent than in job creation, where the World Bank has determined that young, rapidly scaling companies are the drivers for job growth worldwide [1].
Problem Statement
Job creation is important in all societies. It addresses the most basic human needs and lack of jobs drives poverty, migration and political instability in developing and developed countries alike. Strikingly, job creation is an even greater concern for young people, who face greater challenges entering the formal labor force, with the World Bank/ILO estimating up to 35% unemployment for this group in different regions in 2019 [3].There are many approaches to job creation – from government to foreign investment to micro-finance – but few have greater sustainable impact than high-impact entrepreneurship. The term, coined by Endeavor, involves a small, yet vital group of entrepreneurs who scale their businesses rapidly from small to medium to large. World Bank studies [4] have identified the key role of scale-up companies in job creation around the world. In Latin American countries studied, scale-up companies (businesses reporting 20% growth annually over 3 years) represented 8% of all businesses but accounted for 48% of net job creation. In Kenya, the figure was 5% and 70% respectively. And in Southeast Asia, 14% of companies were scale-ups and accounted for a whopping 77% of net new jobs. When successful high-impact entrepreneurs stay in their home countries and cities, they feed a virtuous circle as they launch second and third businesses, become advisers and influencers, and often serve as the first generation of venture investors, providing inspiration and seed funding to the next generation. We call that Endeavor’s multiplier effect, which is the key to systemic change.
Solution Overview
Vibrant ecosystems don’t materialize overnight. These require building a network of key, largely private-sector, stakeholders who come together to address the barriers that entrepreneurs face: Lack of trust; Lack of access to professional networks and talent; Lack of access to capital. When these barriers are addressed, entrepreneurs can rapidly scale to reach potential. And when local networks are brought together under Endeavor’s global umbrella, it unleashes opportunities for entrepreneurs to scale their businesses across borders, providing another opportunity for rapid growth and job creation.Most approaches to promoting entrepreneurship focus on supporting as many ventures as possible, ranging from mom-and-pop businesses to promising start-ups. Given the dramatic role that a small number of scale-up companies have on economic growth and job creation, Endeavor chooses to focus its resources on a much smaller number of entrepreneurs with the highest potential so as to achieve maximum impact. Regardless of sector, Most apply technology to solve real-life problems at scale. By relentlessly putting resources behind these entrepreneurs, we are convinced we can have the most transformative effect. With our replicable global model, bolstered by local boards and teams, Endeavor achieves systemic results in the most efficient time frame.If Endeavor can increase its global reach in the next 5 years, we can directly change the growth trajectory for hundreds of fast-growth companies. While individual entrepreneurs are the initial beneficiaries, the real gains go to their communities as they create tens of thousands of jobs and inspire others on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Endeavor is seeking to accelerate expansion of its model for scaling high- impact entrepreneurs to address the most fundamental need of all societies: The ability for ALL individuals to find good jobs and support their families. As countries and cities worldwide confront the challenge of sustained job creation and economic development, building a healthy ecosystem of high impact entrepreneurs who stay in place brings enormous benefits. High-impact entrepreneurs, those who start and rapidly scale businesses to a significant size, have the ability to transform their home cities and countries. As individuals, high-impact entrepreneurs are job creators, role models and eventually business and civic leaders. As a community, they form an ecosystem that is the key to sustainable economic growth. Nowhere is this more apparent than in job creation, where the World Bank has determined that young, rapidly scaling companies are the drivers for job growth worldwide [1].
Problem Statement
Job creation is important in all societies. It addresses the most basic human needs and lack of jobs drives poverty, migration and political instability in developing and developed countries alike. Strikingly, job creation is an even greater concern for young people, who face greater challenges entering the formal labor force, with the World Bank/ILO estimating up to 35% unemployment for this group in different regions in 2019 [3].There are many approaches to job creation – from government to foreign investment to micro-finance – but few have greater sustainable impact than high-impact entrepreneurship. The term, coined by Endeavor, involves a small, yet vital group of entrepreneurs who scale their businesses rapidly from small to medium to large. World Bank studies [4] have identified the key role of scale-up companies in job creation around the world. In Latin American countries studied, scale-up companies (businesses reporting 20% growth annually over 3 years) represented 8% of all businesses but accounted for 48% of net job creation. In Kenya, the figure was 5% and 70% respectively. And in Southeast Asia, 14% of companies were scale-ups and accounted for a whopping 77% of net new jobs. When successful high-impact entrepreneurs stay in their home countries and cities, they feed a virtuous circle as they launch second and third businesses, become advisers and influencers, and often serve as the first generation of venture investors, providing inspiration and seed funding to the next generation. We call that Endeavor’s multiplier effect, which is the key to systemic change.
Solution Overview
Vibrant ecosystems don’t materialize overnight. These require building a network of key, largely private-sector, stakeholders who come together to address the barriers that entrepreneurs face: Lack of trust; Lack of access to professional networks and talent; Lack of access to capital. When these barriers are addressed, entrepreneurs can rapidly scale to reach potential. And when local networks are brought together under Endeavor’s global umbrella, it unleashes opportunities for entrepreneurs to scale their businesses across borders, providing another opportunity for rapid growth and job creation.Most approaches to promoting entrepreneurship focus on supporting as many ventures as possible, ranging from mom-and-pop businesses to promising start-ups. Given the dramatic role that a small number of scale-up companies have on economic growth and job creation, Endeavor chooses to focus its resources on a much smaller number of entrepreneurs with the highest potential so as to achieve maximum impact. Regardless of sector, Most apply technology to solve real-life problems at scale. By relentlessly putting resources behind these entrepreneurs, we are convinced we can have the most transformative effect. With our replicable global model, bolstered by local boards and teams, Endeavor achieves systemic results in the most efficient time frame.If Endeavor can increase its global reach in the next 5 years, we can directly change the growth trajectory for hundreds of fast-growth companies. While individual entrepreneurs are the initial beneficiaries, the real gains go to their communities as they create tens of thousands of jobs and inspire others on their entrepreneurial journeys.
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