Latest news with #GlobalEntrepreneurshipMonitor
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
5 ChatGPT Prompts That Can Help Teens Launch A Startup
teen entrepreneur using ChatGPT to help with her business Teen entrepreneurship continues to be on the rise. According to Junior Achievement research, 66% of U.S. teens aged 13-17 say they're likely to consider starting a business as adults, with the 2023-2024 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor finding that 24% of 18- to 24-year-olds are currently entrepreneurs. These young founders aren't just dreaming—they're building real ventures that generate revenue and create social impact, and they are using ChatGPT prompts to help them. At WIT (Whatever It Takes), the organization I founded in 2009, we have worked with over 10,000 young entrepreneurs. Over the past year, I've observed a shift in how teens approach business planning. With our guidance, they are using AI tools like ChatGPT not as shortcuts but as strategic thinking partners to clarify ideas, test concepts, and accelerate execution. The most successful teen entrepreneurs have discovered specific prompts that help them move from idea to action. These aren't generic brainstorming sessions—they're using targeted questions that address the unique challenges young founders face: limited resources, school commitments, and the need to prove their concepts quickly. Here are five ChatGPT prompts that consistently help teen entrepreneurs build businesses that matter. "I notice that [specific group of people] A teen might use this prompt after noticing students at school struggling to afford lunch. Instead of assuming they understand the full scope, they could ask ChatGPT to research school lunch debt as a systemic issue. This research may lead them to create a product-based business where the proceeds help pay off lunch debt—combining profit with purpose. Teens notice problems differently than adults because they experience unique frustrations—from school organization challenges to social media overwhelm to environmental concerns. According to Square's research on Gen Z entrepreneurs, 84% plan to still be business owners five years from now, making them ideal candidates for problem-solving businesses. "I'm [age] years old with approximately [dollar amount] to invest and [number] hours per week available between school and other commitments. Based on these constraints, what are three business models I could realistically launch this summer? For each option, include startup costs, time requirements, and the first three steps to get started." This prompt addresses the elephant in the room: most teen entrepreneurs have limited money and time. When a 16-year-old entrepreneur employs this approach to evaluate a greeting card business concept, they may discover that they can start with $200 and scale gradually. By being realistic about constraints upfront, they avoid overcommitting and can build toward sustainable revenue goals. According to Square's Gen Z report, 45% of young entrepreneurs use their savings to start businesses, with 80% launching online or with a mobile component. This data supports the effectiveness of constraint-based planning—when teens work within realistic limitations, they create more sustainable business models. "Act like a [specific demographic] and give me honest feedback on this business idea: [describe your concept]. What would excite you about this? What concerns would you have? How much would you realistically pay? What would need to change for you to become a customer?" Teen entrepreneurs often struggle with customer research because they can't easily survey large groups or hire market research firms. This prompt helps simulate customer feedback by having ChatGPT adopt specific personas. A teen developing a podcast for teenage female athletes could use this approach by asking ChatGPT to respond to different types of teen athletes. This helps identify content themes that resonate and messaging that feels authentic to the target audience. The prompt works best when you get specific about demographics, pain points, and contexts. "Act like a stressed high school senior applying to college" produces better insights than "Act like a teenager." "I want to test this business idea: [describe concept] without spending more than [budget amount] or more than [time commitment]. Design three simple experiments I could run this week to validate customer demand. For each test, explain what I'd learn, how to measure success, and what results would indicate I should move forward." This prompt helps teens embrace the lean startup methodology without getting lost in business jargon. The focus on "this week" creates urgency and prevents endless planning without action. A teenager wanting to test a clothing line concept could use this prompt to design simple validation experiments, such as posting design mockups on social media to gauge interest, creating a Google Form to collect pre-orders, and asking friends to share the concept with their networks. These tests cost nothing but provide crucial data about demand and pricing. "Turn this business idea into a clear 60-second explanation: [describe your business]. The explanation should include: the problem you solve, your solution, who it helps, why they'd choose you over alternatives, and what success looks like. Write it in conversational language a teenager would actually use." Clear communication separates successful entrepreneurs from those with good ideas but poor execution. This prompt helps teens distill complex concepts into compelling explanations they can use everywhere—from social media posts to conversations with potential mentors. The emphasis on "conversational language a teenager would actually use" is important. Many business pitch templates sound artificial when delivered by young founders. Authenticity matters more than corporate jargon. The difference between teens who use these prompts effectively and those who don't comes down to follow-through. ChatGPT provides direction, but action creates results. The most successful young entrepreneurs I work with use these prompts as starting points, not endpoints. They take the AI-generated suggestions and immediately test them in the real world. They call potential customers, create simple prototypes, and iterate based on actual feedback. Recent research from Junior Achievement shows that 69% of teens have business ideas but feel uncertain about the starting process, with fear of failure being the top concern for 67% of potential teen entrepreneurs. These prompts address that uncertainty by breaking down abstract concepts into concrete next steps. Teen entrepreneurs using AI tools like ChatGPT represent a shift in how business education is happening. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research, young entrepreneurs are 1.6 times more likely than adults to want to start a business, and they're particularly active in technology, food and beverage, fashion, and entertainment sectors. Instead of waiting for formal entrepreneurship classes or MBA programs, these young founders are accessing strategic thinking tools immediately. This trend aligns with broader shifts in education and the workforce. The World Economic Forum identifies creativity, critical thinking, and resilience as top skills for 2025—capabilities that entrepreneurship naturally develops. Programs like WIT provide structured support for this journey, but the tools themselves are becoming increasingly accessible. A teenager with internet access can now access business planning resources that were previously available only to established entrepreneurs with significant budgets. The key is using these tools thoughtfully. ChatGPT can accelerate thinking and provide frameworks, but it can't replace the hard work of building relationships, creating products, and serving customers. The best business idea isn't the most original—it's the one that solves a real problem for real people. AI tools can help identify those opportunities, but only action can turn them into businesses that matter.
Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
5 Tools To Help Teen Entrepreneurs Sell Digital Products
teen boy building his digital product Teen entrepreneurship is on the rise, according to recent Junior Achievement research. With 60% of teens preferring to start their own business rather than working a traditional job. Unlike previous generations limited to babysitting and lawn mowing, today's young entrepreneurs are building global brands from their bedrooms. Teens are jumping straight into global markets—thanks to digital products. With no need to manage inventory or handle shipping, they're building businesses around downloadable items, such as study guides, fitness trackers, and social media kits. It's a trend backed by numbers: the digital goods economy is on track to hit $74.5 billion by 2025, and individual creators, including teens, are claiming a growing slice of that market. The entrepreneurial benefits extend beyond income. When teens design, market, and sell digital products, they develop skills in customer research, brand positioning, and iterative improvement—capabilities that strengthen college applications and prepare them for future careers. Unlike physical businesses, which require fixed schedules, digital products can be created during flexible hours and sold automatically through online platforms. Research from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that youth are 1.6 times more likely to want to start a business than adults, with many gravitating toward technology-enabled ventures. Digital products align perfectly with this preference while teaching essential business fundamentals. Here are five platforms empowering teen entrepreneurs to launch successful digital product businesses: Best for: Simple digital products like PDFs, templates, and planners Gumroad is a popular choice for teens launching their first digital product. There are no monthly fees—just a small commission taken from each sale—which makes it a low-risk and easy way to get started. You can upload a file, set your price, and start sharing your link with potential buyers in just a few steps. It also comes with helpful tools like email collection and basic analytics, so you can begin to understand who's buying your product and how they found it. Many teen creators use Gumroad to sell everything from printable study guides to productivity planners and design templates. The clean interface keeps things simple, allowing the focus to stay on building a digital product people want. Best for: Course creation, memberships, and subscription products As teen entrepreneurs develop more sophisticated offerings, Payhip provides advanced functionality without overwhelming complexity. The platform supports online courses, membership communities, and recurring subscriptions—business models that generate ongoing revenue. Payhip includes coupon systems, affiliate marketing tools, and upselling capabilities. These features introduce young entrepreneurs to customer lifetime value concepts and retention strategies typically learned much later in business education. Teens teaching skills such as music lessons, coding tutorials, or academic support find Payhip particularly valuable for packaging their knowledge into structured digital product courses. Best for: Designing polished, visually engaging digital products Canva isn't a sales platform, but it's where many teen digital products begin. Its drag-and-drop tools and massive template library make it easy to create professional-looking designs—no design background is required. Whether it's planners, social media kits, or educational worksheets, Canva gives teen creators the freedom to bring their digital product ideas to life. The platform also supports collaboration, allowing teens to co-create with friends, mentors, or classmates. For those building a brand, Canva's built-in brand kit tools help keep fonts, colors, and styles consistent across products. Canva's accessibility has lowered the barrier to great design—now, creativity counts more than technical skill. Best for: Interactive dashboards and productivity templates Notion has evolved beyond note-taking into a platform where teens create and sell sophisticated productivity tools. The demand for Notion templates reflects broader trends toward digital organization and remote work capabilities. Teen entrepreneurs build study dashboards, content planning systems, and goal-tracking templates that solve real problems for their peers. These products often gain traction through social media demonstrations, particularly on TikTok, where Notion tutorials frequently go viral. Creating Notion products develops systems thinking and user experience design skills—capabilities valuable across multiple career paths. Best for: Teens with existing social media followings Stan Store transforms social media presence into business infrastructure. The platform creates customizable landing pages that consolidate product sales, appointment booking, and email collection into a single link. This approach is particularly beneficial for teens who are already active on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube and want to monetize their audience. Stan Store's mobile-optimized design recognizes that most teen commerce happens on smartphones. The platform works exceptionally well for influence-based products, such as social media templates, content calendars, and personal branding guides. Successful teen digital products typically address problems the creators understand personally. Academic tools perform consistently well, including exam preparation guides, note-taking templates, and college application resources. Wellness and lifestyle products represent another strong category. Teens create habit trackers, gratitude journals, and self-care planners that resonate with peers facing similar challenges. Creative assets, such as social media templates, digital stickers, and photo editing presets, capitalize on the visual nature of teen communication and the growth of the creator economy. Creating and selling digital products isn't just about making money — it's hands-on entrepreneurial education. Teens learn to identify market gaps, price strategically, and adapt their approach based on customer feedback. These aren't abstract lessons; they're real-world skills that translate into future success in business, school, and beyond. These experiences also stand out on college applications. Admissions officers are increasingly drawn to students who show initiative, resilience, and problem-solving — qualities that traditional extracurriculars don't always showcase. At WIT (Whatever It Takes), which I launched in 2009, we created a digital workbook using Canva called Pitch to Press to help teen entrepreneurs gain visibility for their ventures. The workbook includes templates, real teen case studies, and step-by-step instructions tailored to the unique challenges of getting press as a young entrepreneur. It's designed to empower teens to tell their stories — and make them heard. It also serves as an example for teen entrepreneurs who want to create their own digital product. The most important step is beginning with a single product that solves a problem you understand. Start by identifying frustrations in your daily life—inefficient study methods, organizational challenges, or skill gaps among peers. Start with something small. Use one of the tools above to create a basic digital product—maybe a planner, template, or guide—and ask a few friends or classmates to try it out. Their feedback can help you improve it before sharing it more widely. Selling digital products isn't just a way to make extra money—it's a chance for teens to build something around what they're good at or passionate about. The market is growing, the tools are accessible, and the experience gained along the way can shape future college, career, or business paths.
Observer
20-05-2025
- Business
- Observer
Oman achieves exceptional progress in GEM report
Muscat, May 20 The Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) on Tuesday organised a workshop to review the Sultanate of Oman's results in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2024 report. The Sultanate of Oman has achieved exceptional progress in the 2024-2025 GEM report, ranking eighth globally out of 56 countries covered by the report. Sayyid Mazin bin Saif al Busaidy, Deputy Chairman of ASMED, presented a number of themes that the authority has focused on implementing to empower and develop the SME sector, including a number of services and programmes provided to entrepreneurs. He also reviewed the most prominent results achieved by the Authority since its establishment and its efforts to enhance local added value programmes for SMEs by implementing the Enterprise Escalation Programme and the Supplier Development Programme, to increase investment opportunities for SMEs and support them in accessing local and global markets with their services and products. The workshop was titled "Towards Empowering and Sustainable Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Sultanate of Oman". It was attended by representatives of government units and private sector establishments. Qais bin Rashid al Toobi, ASMED Deputy Chairman for Finance and Investment, explained that the workshop includes 15 working papers covering all areas of relevance to the sector of entrepreneurship and SMEs, the legislative environment and future plans in this field. 'ASMED joins hands with all partners — through initiatives, programmes and other events — to achieve partnerships to empower SMEs and the entrepreneurship sector,' said Al Toobi, noting that the Authority offers programmes in financing, investment, capacity building and marketing. The workshop reviewed efforts to motivate SMEs and enhance opportunities for partnerships and integration among the government and private sectors, to help empower SMEs, raise the sector's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and augment Oman's rankings in the GEM report. The workshop included papers that explored entrepreneurial ratios and indices, as well as the outcome of GEM report 2024. The workshop also included specialised training sessions to empower the owners of SMEs and help them benefit from non-traditional financing platforms. The workshop dealt with the index of entrepreneurship in vocational education, colleges and universities; and highlighted efforts made to establish business centres in all governorates to empower SMEs and startups; and to support technology-based and innovation-based startups through the Promising Omani Startup Programme. This is a three-spot improvement from Oman's 2023 ranking when it ranked eleventh. This reflects ongoing efforts to enhance the entrepreneurship business environment; and support small and medium enterprises. Dr Abdullah al Shukaili from the University of Nizwa explained the improvement in the results of the sub-indicators of GEM for the Sultanate of Oman for the year 2024, which led to an improvement in the level of entrepreneurship. He also stated that the GEM is an important and reliable resource that assists decision-makers and contributes to improving entrepreneurship outcomes, both qualitatively and quantitatively, worldwide by providing comprehensive indicators and valuable information on entrepreneurship and mechanisms for improving and developing it, contributing to its continuity and sustainability.
CairoScene
20-05-2025
- Business
- CairoScene
Egypt Opens National Tech Hub to Commercialise Local Invention
Backed by the Ministry of Higher Education, the National Center for Technology Commercialization will help translate Egypt's research into market-ready technologies. May 20, 2025 Egypt has launched the National Center for Technology Commercialization (NCTC), a new facility designed to help researchers and inventors turn their innovations into viable products. Developed by Progressio in partnership with the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), the centre operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education. The centre aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry by offering a public platform where scientists, startups, and private companies can collaborate. It will provide support in areas such as intellectual property protection, tech transfer, licensing, and early-stage venture development—particularly in high-impact fields like agriculture, energy, healthcare, and information technology. Despite high levels of entrepreneurial intent in Egypt—60% of adults report interest in starting a business, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor—there remains a disconnect between research output and commercial application. Egypt filed just over 1,000 patent applications in 2022, a modest figure compared to international benchmarks. The NCTC is being positioned as a national response to this gap, aiming to equip inventors with the tools needed to take ideas to market. The centre is part of a broader initiative known as the One Million Minds Movement, which plans to engage Egyptian innovators through incubators, workshops, and mentorship programmes. Additional details on the centre's digital platform, service rollout, and public initiatives are expected in the coming months.
Gulf Today
06-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf Today
Sheikh Mohammed approves UAE Strategy for Islamic Finance and Halal Industry
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, chaired a Cabinet meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mohammed said, 'I chaired a Cabinet meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, during which we approved the UAE Strategy for Islamic Finance and the Halal Industry. 'The goal is to develop the Islamic finance industry, lead global Islamic finance activities, and raise the level of halal product exports worldwide. 'Our goal is to increase the assets of our Islamic banks from Dhs 986 billion to Dhs 2.56 trillion within six years, and to increase Islamic sukuk issuances listed in the UAE to more than Dhs 660 billion by 2031. 'We also decided to establish a committee headed by the Governor of the Central Bank to implement the strategy. The UAE will continue to diversify and expand its national economy across all sectors, God willing.' Sheikh Mohammed said, 'Today, we also reviewed, within the Cabinet, the results of the overall tourism sector in the country for the year 2024... The tourism, travel and hospitality sector in the country contributed to more than 800,000 jobs in 2023, and the contribution of this sector to the national economy reached 11.7%, and it is expected to reach more than 236 billion dirhams in 2024... We have the necessary infrastructure, and our goal is to reach a contribution of 450 billion dirhams over the next six years, God willing.' The Dubai Ruler said, 'Today, in the Cabinet meeting, we approved updating the UAE's National Biosecurity Framework to ensure strengthening national capabilities for prevention and response, increasing research and innovation activities, developing our biological emergency management system, and strengthening the country's biosecurity infrastructure. 'During the meeting, we reviewed the latest developments in the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector. The UAE ranked first globally for the fourth consecutive year in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2024-2025 report, and 18th globally among the top 100 emerging ecosystems for startups in 2024. SME licenses witnessed a 160% growth. 'Our goal is to continue supporting and expanding this sector and providing the best environment for launching and supporting small and emerging companies, which constitute a key pillar of the national economy.'
