The field of entrepreneurship experienced both disruptions and opportunities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though not a conventional sector of the economy like healthcare, manufacturing or finance, entrepreneurship still underwent significant changes during, after and before the crisis.
With rising levels before the pandemic, entrepreneurship was increasing globally, with more and more people starting their businesses.
However, the pandemic disrupted the upward trend, causing significant challenges and setbacks in the field. For a certain period, it limited and restrained the number of people starting their ventures by forcing them to abandon their current pursuits and pressuring many already working businesses to either close down or pivot fundamentally to stay afloat.
Even though a disaster for some and a chance for others, what came after the initial havoc of the Covid-19 crisis in early 2020, paradoxically and counterintuitive, was a surge in start-ups across the major economies as entrepreneurs sought to respond to the dynamic environment, and laid-off workers launched their ventures. Data shows that most new business ventures were registered and started in late 2020, breaking records in some countries, such as France and Germany.
Notwithstanding, there is no denying that economies worldwide experienced a sharp fall in the early stages of the pandemic. When disentangling the good from the bad, data from the Financial Times suggests that recovery is on the way. Many people have spotted and also successfully implemented business opportunities brought about by the Covid-19 restrictions [1]. This leads to suggest the importance of entrepreneurship, especially when countries are dealing with economic recessions, is part of the societal force that acts as a spark plug that not only stimulates economic activity and business growth but also acts as a catalyst for innovation and creativity.
Owing to this cause, the development of this toolkit aims to inspire the entrepreneurial mindset among its participants and facilitate youth activism that can offset some of the challenges of
Covid-19. In other words, through this toolkit, we hope to inspire and motivate young people and youth workers to realise their ideas and initiatives through entrepreneurial vision and active participation.
Having said that, this toolkit aims to familiarise the reader with education tools, such as different NFIL methods, games and activities, specifically tailored to the needs and preferences of young entrepreneurs, youth workers, mentors and trainers. The presented thirty tools below are designed to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and provide participants with a better understanding of what the entrepreneurial process entails and how an idea comes to fruition, but also to encourage outside-of-the-box thinking and inspire change.
The educational tools are categorised in a way that follows a natural progression from general to cultural, social, green and digital entrepreneurship chapters. The five categories encompass and detail six different training activities. Youth workers and young people would develop abilities such as problem-solving, effective communication and leadership, and competences in creative, analytical, strategic and innovative thinking.