Le youth businesses they look to the future with confidence: they hire and invest more and better resist the complications caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But as far as the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is concerned, they are starting late. This is what emerges from a survey by the Tagliacarne Study Center carried out on a sample of 1.600 manufacturing SMEs between 5 and 249 employees.
“Enterprises led by under 35s are about 9% of the entire entrepreneurial system. In recent years, also due to the transformations that have affected the labor market, the entrepreneurial outlet has become more selective”. It's the words Gaetano Fausto Esposito, director general of the Centro Studi Tagliacarne, who adds "for young people the path of entrepreneurship is increasingly the result of a conscious choice, rather than a substantial form of self-employment, as has been the case many times in the past". “The young entrepreneur – underlines Esposito – is more open to activating market opportunities and much more sensitive to the use of digital technologies even in more traditional sectors. Certainly in these cases the smaller size of the newly established company requires greater attention to the policies to provide the support of services necessary to make it grow and become more robust”.
Youth businesses: 9 out of 10 expect a good recovery in 2022
According to the survey, 86% of companies led by under 35s expect this year to return to pre-Covid production levels or even exceed them, against 82% of non-juvenile ones. Also because to date the businesses led by young people are less affected by theincrease in raw materials (82% vs. 86%) and come on supply problems connected to their finding (42% against 49%). For this reason, 25% estimate an increase in hiring for 2022 (compared to 21% of other companies).
To better compete, 74% of entrepreneurs under 35 aim to invest in formation of human capital to develop the technical-professional skills necessary for one's company in the three-year period 2022-24 (compared to 71% of other companies). While to prepare to ride the double digital and ecological transition, 36% of entrepreneurs under 35 will make investments in training to renew their business models (against 31%).
Young people at the helm of businesses are ahead in several fields compared to their other colleagues, but they register a delay in seizing the opportunities provided by the Pnrr: only 12% of youth businesses have already activated compared to 19% of non-juvenile ones. However, they are moving to catch up, in 2022 14% of youth companies are, in fact, planning to take action, against 13%.
Young entrepreneurs are more open to alternating between school and work
The strategy of focusing on improving the quality of their human capital within the company also leads young entrepreneurs to be more open to subjects of knowledge outside the company.
One youth enterprise out of four relates to universities and research centers for open innovation projects, ranging from technology transfer to applied research initiatives - compared to non-juvenile enterprises (20%). The share of juvenile companies that interface with the school system for school-work alternation projects, internships and apprenticeships also appears to be higher (39% vs 33%).
