YOUTH BUSINESS NETWORK

About Us

• Youth Business Network (YBN) is a not-profit organization that conducts the regional network of Youth Business Programs helping young people between 18-35 years from Caucasus countries to startor strengthen their own businesses by providing business consulting,franchise opportunities, trainings, specialized mentoring and financing offer.

• Our mission is to develop the Caucasus Region through thecreation and strengthening of small and medium-sized businesses, and encourage the economy and job creation.

• Our Vision is to become a consolidated model of businessdevelopment with a regional presence in Caucasus.

How We Support Youth

We mobilize business environment in order to provide significantsupport. In cooperation with local communities and the various companies, governmental and non-governmental organizations, we help young people to create their own economic activity, and thus minimizes the unemployment and poverty and reduce the isolation of young people from the business environment.Thismeans:For young people - an increase in confidence, employment growth and financial independence.For business - better relationship with local communities, development of entrepreneurship, improving the skills of potential employees and impact on the development dynamic of the SME sector.For society - a decrease of unemployment among young people, while reducing poverty, alienation of young people and social conflicts.

Our Objectives

• To create jobs by offering a chance to young people from Caucasus region with potential business force;

• To contribute to the expansion of the SME sector byincreasing the number of Caucasian entrepreneurs;

• To help fill the gap of Caucasus's lending system by meetingthe financial needs of SMEs, needs that can not be addressedby the conventional banking system;

• To provide support and encouragement through mentoring, consulting, guidance and training;

• To give hope and provide role models to unemployed youngpeople.

• Special care should be made to finance environmentallysound businesses.

Our Services

The main objectives of YBN are supporting thecreation of healthy SME sector and improving theeconomic performance of existing SMEs, as well asassisting the business operations of foreignenterprises engaged in business in Caucasus throughproviding following services and opportunities:• Consulting;• Financial Consulting;• Mentoring;• Business Incubator;• Trainings and Employement• Event Management;

ConsultingMarket Entry

• YBN provides customized market entry services, business intelligence and market support for:

üyoung entrepreneurs from Caucasus region striving to enter international market;

ü international youth businesses interested to enter the Caucasus region markets as investors, joint-ventures, exporters, producers or franchisors.

• Our services allow young business people to develop a realistic market entry strategy based on the complex analysis of local market specifics that could impact successful entry.

ConsultingMatch Business Partner

Your success in business mostly depends on which business partners you choose to work with. Whether you are just looking for a business partner who would be exactly what you need, or need assistance to get in touch with potential partner – YBN is ready to be there for you.

YBN will help you identify, contact and evaluate suitable potential business partners. These can include:

• Business buyers /sellers / investors;• Partners for investments;• Partners for joint-ventures;• Sales representatives; • Appropriate suppliers;• Distributors; • New subcontractors.

ConsultingTrade Consultancy

• YBN assists young business people from Caucasus region in various areas of international and domestic trade. We facilitate cross border trade between their companies and international Institutions.

• We assist in sourcing, selecting and negotiations with partners, providing market studies and advise on countries and regulatory framework for implementation of business plans and new projects. We can also provide political and business risk assessment for named target markets and advise on market penetration strategy and business development structures. More specifically, our tradeconsultancy offerings include:

• International Tradeü Import and export of goods and services ü Financing and Transactional Support for importers and exporters such as assistance with

transaction appraisal, and preparing financing requests.ü Country Risk ManagementüMarket Analysis, entry strategies, market development and identification of key players

• Trade Promotionü Import and Export support including carrying out Due Diligence on contracting parties.ü Investment Promotion and policy analysis, best practices, program design and implementation.ü Engagements linking trade, training and international development.

• Trade Financeü Export Credit Agencies and Multilateral Agencies financing support for importers and exporters.ü Assisting with solutions to mitigate payment and performance risks.

ConsultingImport and Export Services

• We consult on every aspect of importing and exporting including:

ü Supplier selectionü Contract negotiationü Favorable shipping termsü Carrier and route selectionü Customs clearanceüWarehousing and distribution, as well as any other area of concern for your

company.

• We can help you to:

ü streamline document exchangeü reduce payment or collection riskü facilitate your financial transactions almost anywhere in the world

With YBN Caucasus as your partner, you will have a complete source of information and services to assist in moving your goods around the globe.

ConsultingBusiness Consulting

YBN helps SME’s young owners as a business consultant, offering large scale business success services including:

• Business Plan;• Marketing Plan;• Strategic Plan;• Executive Summary;• Loan Package;• Investment Overview;• Business Coaching;• Web Development, Marketing and SEO.

Financial ConsultingServices

YBN offers a wide range of highly specialized financial consulting products and financial services:

•Business Plan Assistance;•Due Diligence;•Feasibility studies;•Business Valuation;•M&A Support Service;•Capital Raising;•Real Estate Financial Analysis;•Banking;•Accounting Services; Audit; Bookkeeping; Tax Consulting; •Alternative Investment Strategies

Business Mentoring

• YBN provides new businesses with experts and businessmentors selected from the local business community.

• Business mentors are experienced business people withsuccessful business in the past, who provide motivation, guidance and advice in order to help the development of theyoung entrepreneur and his/her business.

• They are to allow the entrepreneurs’ natural business instinctsto flourish and help them make the most of their ideas, energy, enthusiasm and determination become successful.

• The entrepreneur is to meet and keep in contact with theirbusiness mentor regularly, where the progress of the businessis reviewed and action plans are made to overcome anyproblems and improve business performance.

Business Incubator

• YBN’s Business Incubator service aims to accelerate the successful development of start-ups by providing young entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services.

• We encourage the establishment of a substantial number of small,innovative businesses with high potential for sustainable growth and job creation.

• Enabling overhead costs to be reduced by sharing facilities, business incubator can significantly improve the survival and growth prospects of start-ups and small firms by providing services on a 'one-stop’ basis on early stage of development.

• The business incubator has no particular sector orientation.

• It starts operation to provide mixed portfolio business services to start up and early stage companies.

• Special emphasis is made on enhancing awareness of knowledge based new economy industries such as e-commerce and B2B services.

Business Incubator

Our BI services include:• Mentoring - advice and support provided by experienced

entrepreneurs or business professionals in different areas including strategic analysis, marketing strategy, organization, financial planning;

• Training - Open day training, Business planning & Start up, Access to finance seminars, and specific training covering topics such as business planning, marketing, organization, and financial management;

• Support for access to finance - connecting the young entrepreneur with a partner financial institution, assisting in the preparation of a loan application and a business plan;

Business Incubator

• Access to information and networks - provide start ups with access to database and networks to support research for potential partners, suppliers, financing and business opportunities;

• Promotional Services - The incubated enterprises are widely promoted throughout the business community by mean of different marketing initiatives, including the Incubator Web Site, the Business Incubator Bulletin and others;

• Office facilities - These include a business address, mail service, office equipment, internet connection and a meeting room;

• Introductory seminars and training - regularly organize seminars and trainings for people interested in starting a new business help the introduction to all the steps necessary to start a business, including the preparation of a business plan.

Trainings and Employement

• YBN provides training programmes for students, and employment services for young employers in Caucasus Region.

• We have vast experience in providing careers advice, employment brokerage, training and referring young people to successful pathways.

• We offer:

üTrainingsüInternshipsüSenior VolunteersüE-LearningüEducational Events