At the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2025—held June 2–5, 2025 at the Indiana Convention Center—we joined more than 3,000 ecosystem builders, founders, investors, and policymakers for four days of actionable collaboration.
On June 4, Executive Director Desma Deitz joined panel participants Calvin Selth, David Coronado, Nadine Baker, and Ron Williams to share proven strategies for sparking youth entrepreneurship. Curated by STARTedUP Foundation and moderated by Ifeoma Aduba from the Entrepreneurship Funders Network, the session drew a standing-room-only crowd eager to explore how to transform siloed efforts into thriving, youth-centered entrepreneurial ecosystems.
“I was honored to share the stage with funders and ecosystem builders who are championing entrepreneurial learning and understand that a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem must be built with youth in mind. By cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset and skills at a young age, we equip the next generation to design the future with empathy, resilience, and purpose.”
Desma Deitz
Together, we highlighted real‑world examples of funders, educators, and community leaders partnering to fuel scalable, equitable opportunities for all learners. Dialogue focused on integrating entrepreneurship with science, technology, engineering, arts, and math to create hands‑on learning from preschool through postgraduate levels.
Insights That Resonated
The panel distilled our collective expertise into five actionable strategies:
- Start Early. If we wait until high school to embed entrepreneurial mindsets and skills, we’re too late. Building confidence and creative identity in elementary and middle school is key.
- Measure What Matters. Adopt new metrics—confidence, curiosity, problem‑solving, and “opportunity readiness”—alongside traditional outputs.
- Fund for Scale. Advocate multi‑year, cross‑sector funding coalitions that move programs beyond pilots into lasting impact.
- Design Inclusive Funnels. Ensure every stage—from playground prototyping to workforce readiness—offers clear on‑ramps, not gatekeepers.
- Build with Depth. Create experiences that tap into each learner’s identity and aspirations, fostering transformations that endure.
Why This Matters
By blending Desma’s leadership with the collective wisdom of our partners, VentureLab reaffirmed that youth entrepreneurship is about much more than startups—it’s about cultivating confident, curious, and resilient changemakers. The energy in the Indiana Convention Center was palpable, and we left Indianapolis convinced that building systems—not silos—is the only way to close opportunity gaps and empower the next generation.
Continue the Conversation
Discover how VentureLab partners with communities to empower young innovators through our ESTEAM® approach. Stay tuned for more resources, stories, and frameworks drawn from GEC 2025 as we keep the momentum alive—because the future is youth‑powered, and it’s already in motion.
