Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Academy (YEPA): Building a Lasting Legacy for Young Entrepreneurs

For the past three years, the Youth Entrepreneurship Policy Academy (YEPA) has brought together policymakers, youth networks, programme managers, social entrepreneurship organisations, and researchers to address one of Europe’s most pressing challenges: supporting young people in turning their entrepreneurial ambitions into reality. With over 150 participants, YEPA has served as a unique policy-learning network, creating a much-needed platform for dialogue, exchange, and innovation in youth entrepreneurship policy.

The OECD-EU initiative was designed to strengthen youth entrepreneurship policies and programmes by highlighting the barriers young people face—ranging from access to finance and skills development to networks and institutional support. While surveys show that nearly 40% of young people in the EU aspire to become self-employed, only 7% take the leap. YEPA has played a vital role in exploring this gap, offering insights into “what works” in supporting young entrepreneurs and how governments can design better-tailored policies.

Throughout its three-year journey, YEPA has raised awareness among policymakers about the obstacles young entrepreneurs encounter and promoted good practices to avoid policy failures. It has also underlined the added value of social entrepreneurship and provided a regular mechanism for dialogue between governments and youth entrepreneurship networks. This has been especially critical in light of recent crises, from the COVID-19 pandemic to economic instability linked to global conflicts, which have further exposed the vulnerability of young people entering the labour market.

Governments have made progress through measures such as entrepreneurship education, mentoring, incubators, and financing schemes, yet more remains to be done. YEPA’s collaborative approach has helped policymakers, institutions, and youth themselves to reflect collectively on how to create more inclusive and future-oriented ecosystems for entrepreneurship.

Aġenzija Żgħażagħ together with Malta Enterprise, JA Malta and the Edward Debono Institute have been part of YEPA.  During this time Aġenzija Żgħażagħ was invited to join the YEPA Steering Committee to help secure YEPA’s legacy. This role ensures that Malta’s voice – and the voices of young people it represents – will continue to shape European and international youth entrepreneurship policies in the years ahead.

The initiative will culminate in the YEPA Summit in October 2025 . This event will bring together participants from across Europe to reflect on the policy lessons learned, showcase good practices, and set out the YEPA Agenda – a forward-looking framework for strengthening youth entrepreneurship support. The summit will also feature youth voices at its heart, ensuring that policymakers remain closely connected to the real experiences and aspirations of young entrepreneurs.