Commenting on the launch of the Young Person’s Guarantee, Ben Francis, FSB Wales Policy Chair, said:
“There is so much ground to be made up as we recover from the pandemic, and the Young Person’s Guarantee is an opportunity to bind together prospects for young people in Wales and for the smaller businesses that are a crucial part of our economy and our communities.
“We hope to see real opportunities for Wales’ business community to engage with this scheme and to boost our economy whilst providing Wales’ next generation of talent with the jobs and skills that will help them in the future. However, Welsh Government needs to make that engagement easy, accessible and business focussed for smaller businesses and articulate the benefits of the scheme to the community.
It is also important for the Young Person’s Guarantee to avoid duplication of other existing schemes and should be used as a chance to draw together similar interventions. It will also be important for it to be obvious how this links with UK Government-led initiatives such as the Kickstart scheme.
“We are pleased to see that the scheme will focus on supporting young people into entrepreneurship. This is a vital route and Wales’ next generation of entrepreneurs will need support from Welsh Government to start and scale businesses post-pandemic. Welsh Government will need to draw a wide range of voices into this scheme to ensure that businesses and future entrepreneurs from across the country are able to create opportunities that will benefit all of us in the years to come.”