Last week we brought to you a webinar on the blindspots of Circular Economy and focusing Entrepreneurship on fair & circular business models.

1. Educate
Civil society and specifically Youth NGOs put great emphasis on Sustainability and promote the underlying concepts actively amongst their Network. We believe this should increasingly be part of formal education to reach even more students. At least Youth NGOs need to receive more recognition and support for their work, including from the European Institutions.

2. Research
There are still many open challenges, which the report presented in the event clearly shows. Students on a higher education level should be involved increasingly in research projects as they will actively bring those findings to the business community later in their lives.

3. Support
We have great resources on developing your own ideas in general, but which points do I need to consider when I want to make my business model circular?
Specific resources and tools to answer these questions should be developed. For example, taking into account the findings of the presented report.

4. Guide
When listening to successful entrepreneurs, they tell us how important their Network has been to them. Young Entrepreneurs don’t yet have a wide network they can rely on, we need to help them find the right contacts.

5. Share
A great way to practice your skills is through competitions. We believe it is important to create competitions to engage students in problem-solving & pitching ideas. This may bring you creative solutions to the problems we face, but at least develops entrepreneurial skills that will be important for young people to change our business world.

6. Fund
Lastly, it is not easy to compete with the big ones. Especially some circular business models (e.g. renting) need a fair share of initial investment to get started. More funding needs to be available and easily accessible in Europe for young entrepreneurs. Funding packages do not need to be large, sometimes it is enough to create some financial stability for the Entrepreneurs.

During the event, a new report by Circle Economy, the European Environmental Bureau and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office was launched. The report identifies blind spots in the European textile and electronics sectors, helping policymakers and business leaders understand how they can address the manifold challenges of the post-COVID-19 economy.
You can find more information or directly download the report here.

Written by Julius Stoerrle, President at JEE

If you have any questions or would like to hear more from us, contact us at publicaffairs@juniorenterprises.eu.