Nestlé launches new Youth Entrepreneurship Platform

To date the Global Youth initiative has helped more than four million young people globally

Nestlé has launched the Nestlé Youth Entrepreneurship Platform (YEP), a digital platform for young innovators to test their ideas, grow their businesses and learn key new business skills to help scale sustainable and innovative solutions.

As part of Nestle’s Global Youth Initiative, the platform will give innovators access to The Nestlé Entrepreneurship Academy and programmes and platforms to gain new skills.

Nestle’s chief technology officer Stefan Palzer said, “At Nestlé we work with startups, entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers to drive innovation, bring good ideas to market fast and provide nutritious, sustainable and affordable products for a growing world population.”

“Our new digital platform supports young people to bring great ideas to life across the food value chain, shaping the future of food.”

With the International Labour Organization (ILO) finding that 40% of young people are either unemployed or in a job below the poverty line, Nestle and its Global Youth Initiative is aiming to give young people better access to key business skills.

This will include the Nestlé R+D Accelerator. Young entrepreneurs can apply for challenges at one of Nestlé’s 12 Accelerators across the world, with a focus on food and drink innovations that can be brought to market in six months.

To date, the Global Youth initiative has helped more than four million young people globally.

Net-zero plans

In 2020, Nestle committed to halve its absolute emissions by 2030 and bring them to net-zero by 2050, and outlined plans for new investments in renewable electricity, carbon offsetting and regenerative agriculture.

The firm published a net-zero roadmap detailing the scope of the new targets and its plans for meeting them. The targets have been approved in line with 1.5C by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).

Included in the roadmap are plans to switch to 100% renewable electricity in global operations by 2025. Nestle has been using 100% renewable grid-supplied electricity in the UK and Ireland since 2016 and has set up onsite generation arrays in several key markets already. But it operates in 187 countries – many of which have poorer renewable electricity provisions.

Other pledges for operations include offsetting business travel emissions by 2022, improving water efficiency, investing in electric vehicles (EVs) and reducing food waste. Moreover, many of Nestle’s brands have set pre-2030 targets for carbon neutrality, including Garden Gourmet, Garden of Life, Nespresso, S.Pellegrino, Perrier and Acqua Panna. Offsetting will play a role in reaching these commitments.