"Accenture’s support of Youth Business
International is a central part of our corporate citizenship work
because we understand the importance of supporting young
entrepreneurs and believe in the way YBI works through its network
of local partners."
Jill Huntley, Accenture’s Director of Corporate
Citizenship
Building a global relationship with Accenture
YBI’s relationship with Accenture has developed significantly over
five years into a multi-faceted collaboration that is providing
value to both organisation’s and helping the YBI Network increase
the number of young entrepreneurs that it supports.
Accenture is committed to building skills that enable people to
participate in and contribute to the economy. The relationship with
YBI is a good fit with Accenture’s focus, since YBI's network of
youth business programmes is providing budding entrepreneurs access
to business mentoring and capital, helping them to hone their
business skills and build their small enterprises.
Accenture has acted as an advisor to YBI since 2004, guiding the
strategic development of the organisation and the YBI Network. In
2005, this role developed into direct operational support to enable
YBI to improve the quality across the network of mentoring
initiatives, which are a core element of the YBI model.
The increasing understanding of the shared goals of the two
organisations led to a new phase of activity in 2008. This new
project – which will run until 2011 – focuses on expanding coverage
while also strengthening the existing network of programmes and
increasing community awareness and participation.
The project will create the capacity for the YBI Network to
continue to expand rapidly for years to come.
As well as the close liaison between YBI and Accenture
centrally, the relationship is also being widened to enable local
Accenture offices and individual members of the YBI Network to
establish sustainable and constructive relationships.
"Accenture’s support of Youth Business International is a
central part of our corporate citizenship work because we
understand the importance of supporting young entrepreneurs and
believe in the way YBI works through its network of local
partners," says Jill Huntley, Accenture’s Director of Corporate
Citizenship. "Working with YBI can provide opportunities for
Accenture people all around the world to engage with local
communities and use our key skills to address the growing challenge
of youth employment."