Can you sum up the role of the association in a few words?
Our mission is entrepreneurship education, and we do this in two ways: firstly, we introduce young people to entrepreneurship so that they can consider it as a career option, a viable alternative to the traditional model, secondly we promote and develop this entrepreneurial attitude among young people so that they can apply it to their future working life, whichever path they take.
In order to fulfil these two objectives, we have 11 educational programmes that we offer in schools and colleges, for pupils and students between the ages of 9-10 and 25.
In your opinion, what stops young people from becoming entrepreneurs?
I’m going to give quite a predictable answer, but the biggest factor is the State. The majority of the Luxembourgish population works for the State because it offers a very attractive salary and it’s easy to get work. A child’s environment is very important in their choice of career: if he or she has parents who are civil servants, teachers who are civil servants, their path is already mapped out... They don’t try to find out the possibilities elsewhere, in the private sector or as an entrepreneur. In addition, risk and failure are still seen quite badly, so students will look for security.
On the other hand, the new generation is much more active, and we see that they want to participate. But we have to give them the means to do so! The results of our programmes are quite impressive, but young people don’t always have the opportunity to create something afterwards. We need to encourage them more and give them the means to discover what they’re capable of doing.
All age ranges show a certain amount of interest during our programmes.
Is there an age range that seems to be more interested than others?
All age ranges show a certain amount of interest during our programmes. The major difference is that the youngest are much more free in the way they deal with things, they haven’t yet been ‘formatted’ to think in a certain way, and this is also why it’s very important to approach them at this age. Discussions with them are very rewarding.
But as a general rule all these pupils have high potential and we try to support them in time so that they can develop it, which a traditional education doesn’t always allow them to do. It’s a long process throughout the stages of a traditional education.
Are you aware of entrepreneurs who were inspired by your programmes?
We often hear of success stories and we’re currently structuring the implementation of a network of alumni, an initiative by previous participants, in order to collect figures and keep track of these young people. Among this group of alumni, who are still students, several also have business ventures at the same time. Some of these students also founded a mini business venture during one of our programmes, and it actually opened for business at the end of their studies. So you see: there are stories, we just need the means to collect them!
Several of your programmes rely on volunteers, from the entrepreneurial world or the business world. How do you recruit them?
It’s a challenge every year! We have key communications campaigns, but above all we rely on our networks: companies that are sponsors or partners, word of mouth. Some volunteers also come to us, because they’ve heard of us. For this year we’re almost complete, we’re only missing 3!
The association has been around for over 10 years now, have you noticed a change in mentality among young people or in schools?
These days young people grow up with new technologies, they’re accustomed to using them but they’re not necessarily aware of what’s behind them. They also ask themselves more questions about the meaning of what they see and do, and about what they can contribute to society or the environment. These are subjects that come up much more often in young peoples’ questions today than 10 years ago. So the projects they work on with us often focus on sustainable development, the circular economy, on social aspects. But they have more trouble focusing, because they get so much information from all over the place, with all these screens, that they have trouble channelling and analysing it. But they do have a strong desire to participate, to be active, which isn’t really what is offered to them in traditional courses.
In terms of education, things are going much more slowly. Some schools are open to change and tend towards ‘learning by doing’, but teachers don’t yet have sufficient training for the current state of the economy to manage and train young people in the best way. Most aren’t aware of the growth sectors, the latest technologies... for example they haven't heard of ‘biotech’. It’s important to maintain basic courses like languages and mathematics, but some courses could benefit from being more practical and closer to the business world.
This concerns everyone, because it will influence our country’s future.
In your opinion what would be the paths to follow, the actions to implement in order to inspire entrepreneurship in young people?
We must all work together, the government, schools, associations, young people and the private sector, to see this objective fulfilled in the long term. This concerns everyone, because it will influence the country’s future. We hear a lot about people from abroad setting up in Luxembourg and that’s great, but we sometimes forget that there is also a lot of potential among Luxembourgers.
Each year, through our programmes, we reach 10,000 young people, we have 400 volunteers from the business world involved in the programmes, and we work with many schools across the country. We work in the field of youth education in particular, but we also educate the general population. However, we’re still having trouble promoting ourselves to the general public.
What do you think of the local entrepreneurial system?
I think things have changed a lot in recent years. Before, the few initiatives that were launched were isolated. Now the actors in the ecosystem have realised that it’s better to work together. It’s even easier because Luxembourg is small, so it’s easy to create connections. There is still potential for improvement, but it’s going in the right direction.
Any final comments?
I would like to insist on the fact that we need to believe in the potential of the younger generation. We often criticise them but they have a lot to give if we can motivate and support them properly. It’s our shared responsibility to educate them as best we can, particularly about entrepreneurship.
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