Citi and NyföretagarCentrum to help young entrepreneurs create another 500 new companies
The global bank Citi is continuing its co-operation with NyföretagarCentrum for the “Young & Own” program in Sweden through the Citi Foundation. The collaboration, which started in 2015, has generated 3,000 new companies, twice the original goal. The cooperation is now being extended and another 500 new companies are expected to be established by young entrepreneurs in 2020. Citi is also involved in mentoring programs for immigrant women entrepreneurs.
When the collaboration with NyföretagarCentrum started in 2015, the goal was to establish 1,500 new companies within four years. That goal has been surpassed by a wide margin with as many as 3,000 new companies established and 7019 young entrepreneurs completing the programme. In the coming year, another 500 companies are expected to be established within the framework of the program called “Young & Own”. The collaboration is funded through Citi’s foundation, Citi Foundation.
“We have seen fantastic development over these four years and now we look forward to further developing our collaboration, also with mentoring programs for women who are recent immigrants. Investing in young people is crucial for integration, community development and for sustainable economic development. With NyföretagarCentrum and “Young & Own”, we can now encourage even more young entrepreneurs with foreign background to create their own company and future,” says Alexander Stiris, Nordic cluster head, Nordic corporate banking head and country head for Sweden at Citi.
The collaboration between Citi and NyföretagarCentrum Sweden aims to reduce youth unemployment and support young entrepreneurs (18-30 years) with a focus on those with a foreign background. The new programme period aims to build on the successful results of the program so far, such as the winner of “Young New Entrepreneur 2019”, Mehri Nasirian, who established her staffing company Docia with 65 employees and a turnover of 66 million.
Citi will also contribute to NyföretagarCentrum’s mentoring programme for recent immigrant female entrepreneurs, where Citi employees are mentors to share their knowledge, experience and networks.
“Mentoring programs are often decisive for whether or not these women start their own business,” says Elisabet Sannas, project manager for NyföretagarCentrum’s Young & Own program. “All the participants in the program are very well educated, but nevertheless find it difficult to establish themselves on the Swedish labour market. The efforts of Citi’s mentors are invaluable here.”
“The results achieved during our years with Citi have far exceeded our expectations,” says Harry Goldman, CEO of the NyföretagarCentrum. “Thanks to Citi and their foundation, we have been able to establish ‘Young and Own’ which has become a success story, not least for entrepreneurs with a foreign background who have been given the opportunity to make their own way to livelihood in business through, among other things, advice, support and mentoring. With this renewed collaboration, we will also be able to explore more ways to develop our support for young entrepreneurs with foreign background.”
In Europe, the Citi Foundation collaborates with Youth Business Europe through their member organisations in 10 countries: Belgium (microStart), France (Adie, Positive Planet), Germany (KIZ), Italy (MicroLab), Ireland (Inner City Enterprise), Kazakhstan (MOST Business Incubator), Netherlands (Qredits), Russia (Youth Business Russia and ImpactHub Moscow), Spain (Youth Business Spain), and Sweden (NyföretagarCentrum Sweden).
In total, Citi has invested $2.6 million in these countries over four years through the Citi Foundation and is now investing a further $700,000 for a one-year programme period to support 4,500 young entrepreneurs starting up businesses. In total, around 24,000 young entrepreneurs have been supported through the programme with advice and other support, and approximately 5,700 new companies have been established in Europe, with as many as 3000 of them in Sweden. The initiative is part of the Citi Foundation’s global pathway to progress initiative, which aims to increase young people’s financial opportunities through entrepreneurship.
For more information, please contact:
Anneli Sundström, Communications Director, Citi, anneli.sundstrom@citi.com
Elisabet Sannas, Project Manager, NyföretagarCentrum Sweden elisabet.sannas@nyforetagarcentrum.se
Read more about the project at: http://youthbusinesseurope.org
About the Citi Foundation
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic social development around the world and focuses on initiatives that improve the conditions for economic integration. Citi Foundation works with various partners to create measurable financial improvements to strengthen families from low-income areas. Through an approach that is "More Than Philanthropy”, Citi’s resources and human capital can enhance the bank’s philanthropic investments and its effects. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com.
About Citi
Citigroup Inc. (Citi) has been in business for over 200 years and is one of the world’s largest banks with 200,000 employees and operates in 160 countries. Citi provides a wide range of financial products and services. In the Nordic countries, the bank has been active since the 1970s with offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki. The focus is corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management.
For more information, see www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://new.citi.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About NyföretagarCentrum.
NyföretagarCentrum Sweden is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote new viable companies and entrepreneurship through free confidential advice from established entrepreneurs to new entrepreneurs. Together with its local offices, the NyföretagarCentrum covers over 200 municipalities. Each year, more than 16,000 people come to the NyföretagarCentrum for advice, of whom just over 7-8,000 start a business, a total of approximately 220,000 companies since its inception. In fact, of those who started their own businesses with the help of the NyföretagarCentrum, less than 1 per cent went bankrupt after three years. After three years, 81 percent of the companies are still active. If the NyföretagarCentrum mentoring programme includes consultancy, 89% remain after year three and 0% are bankrupt. Read more at www.nyforetagarcentrum.se.
About Youth Business International (YBI)
YBI is a global network of independent, non-profit organisations that help young entrepreneurs start and run their own businesses and create jobs. YBI supports underprivileged young people through a combination of advice, access to capital, mentoring and other types of business promotion activities. YBI’s members have helped more than 100,000 young, underprivileged people to start and run their own businesses and generate jobs. Read more about Youth Business International at: www.youthbusiness.org.