In Europe, 50 per cent of businesses fail five years after being created (Source: European Commission).

Failure may be a result of many reasons, but research and practice show three particular ones worth analysing to understand why people fail and how young people can be empowered to create positive change through entrepreneurship and creativity:

• People may start a business for the wrong reasons. Money may serve as an external motivator, but consumers will not invest, purchase or believe in a product or service unless the correct message is conveyed.

This does not mean that money is a wrong motivator; but it is an external motivator which, when not complemented with other internal motivators that lead to performance, does not produce the required effects.

• Poor leadership and management. Getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively is not an easy task.

Good management implies forward planning and the ability to manage people, operations, finances and marketing properly; a high level of employee turnover will most likely affect the enterprise negatively. It is now easier for trained and trusted people to turn to greener pastures as a result of poor leadership.

• Not learning from past experience. Many people do not even consider creating a business (entrepreneur) or creating new opportunities within existing organisations (intrapreneurs) out of fear of the consequences of failure. While failure is not usually on a person’s ‘to do’ list, it can provide an opportunity to strart afresh.

These reasons provide important insights on how to empower young people for entrepreneurship and creativity.

Entrepreneurship is a mechanism to put passion into action by discovering and exploiting opportunities. It is passion and a sense of mission that motivate people from within and gives entrepreneurs the energy to move on when things seem to be going in the wrong direction.

Priorities may change, but new motivators can provide the energy boost required. Therefore, from a young age, one needs to provide the necessary space to support people in excelling in what they love doing and what they do well.

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“In Europe, 50 per cent of businesses fail five years after being created”

This can be achieved by offering opportunities for learning in a secure environment, facilitating networking with experienced people and supporting new initiatives by young people.

Leadership, management and thinking skills can be learnt. A number of opportunities are already available both in educational institutions and outside.

Different educational institutions, government entities and voluntary organisations lead initiatives and schemes, such as start-up support, best business plan competitions and training and development opportunities.

More needs to be done so that the different players can work together to ensure more availability and accessibility of opportunities, but experience shows that those who want to grow and are committed to do so find the necessary space to enhance their competence.

The biggest mistake is not learning from one’s wrongdoings. Research, mentoring and planning help to learn from past mistakes and potentially avoid them.

Most of the time, it’s easy to take a subjective look and minimise potential problems, so writing a business plan can be helpful and requires an objective and critical mindset.

Having an ‘external’ person who is able to understand the issues at stake and give constructive feedback helps identify potential pitfalls; this person must be prepared to set strategies that will enable success and support in times of need.

For homes, schools and organisations, creating accountability while sustaining a no-blame culture is fundamental in building an effective learning culture that allows people to flourish and learn from past experiences.

The saying: ‘If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won’t, you are almost assured you won’t’ makes sense in this context. Entrepreneur-ship and intrapreneurship are required mindsets and keys for the Maltese economy to start registering growth again.

Young people can be empowered to think this way and to come up with original and valued ideas, putting passion into action, building competence and developing resilience.

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JCI Malta is affiliated to JCI International, a worldwide community of young active citizens who are changing the world.

Mr Flores is communications and PR director, JCI Malta.