Interview: Why Sharon Davies, Young Enterprise chief executive, questions the ‘lost generation’ narrative

Her experience, knowledge, and practice all point towards an optimistic vision for Generation Z as she continues to be inspired by the talent and determination of young people to push back against the narrative of the “lost generation” following the Covid-19 pandemic and other national and international crises.

Davies has led Young Enterprise for 14 years and her work with young people dates back to when she was just 19. Her drive for “applied learning” is key to her determination to provide opportunities through financial education for young people.  

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It is clear how enthusiastic she is about the future of Young Enterprise as it approaches its 60th anniversary later this year.

Her words paint an optimistic vision for the future of Generation Z – young people aged between 10 and 25 years old - underpinned by an acceptance that young people face significant challenges but ultimately, have a lot to offer and are brimming with potential.

What do you believe is the greatest challenge faced by young people today?

There are a number of issues young people are having to face. The lack of access to opportunity is a real big issue for a number of young people. This is coupled with limited networks to step into the world of work.

Young people are disproportionately impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and the squeeze that it has triggered. Very often, a young person doesn’t have that safety net, whether they are transitioning into rented accommodation or are early leavers, or care-leavers, [it can be] very difficult not having that safety net or support.

Is there an obvious sense of fear amongst young people caused by the challenges they face in today’s climate or are you optimistic that young people are equipped face these difficulties?  

Our direct experience, from working with young people is that Gen-Z is a real resilient and resourceful generation. When working with them through the pandemic, what we often saw is them being very resourceful with often limited resources, and what they were looking for were opportunities and support.

In our experience, they are pushing hard against the lost generation narrative which was pushed by the media, and I think there’s a balance to be had here; while accepting that young people’s opportunities and support has been disproportionately impacted but also being open to listening to young people about what will help them the most.

Very often, what we are doing is developing skills, mindsets, and financial education to make good, informed, consumer choices and to have access to the same opportunities that the previous generations have had when entering the world of work.

What do you think we can learn from Gen-Z? And how do we promote this?

This is such an empathetic generation, there are some really strong skills, human skills that are really beneficial to the world of work. When we talk about mentoring, there is an opportunity for reverse mentoring, because Gen-Z have so much to contribute within the developing world of work, which is all about empathy and compassion; it’s a very different way of leading.

The context of the world has completely changed, so it’s about having relevant conversations between generations.

We’ve now got four generations in the work force and remote working separates these generations because these types of conversations you might have once had within an office, perhaps with a cup tea. Your education would rub off here, but in a remote setting, young people are quite isolated.

How do employers set up this kind of informal exchange of views and developing relationships between generations in the work force? This is a very important question”.  

What does a post-pandemic Young Enterprise look like? Has your organisation changed?

There’s certainly an increased demand for in-person opportunities, with many young people and teachers telling us that they feel like the missed out on those real exchanges over the pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic, a lot of our programmes were analogue, so they were purely delivered in the classroom, now up to 92 per cent of our programmes can be delivered online. We had a cracking group of staff and volunteers that worked really hard to provide students and parents with resources.

A culture developed where there was no expert in the room and, in a lot of ways, that was really freeing as an organisation, and this culture hasn’t really left us: we are really collaborative and all working towards the same ends.

In a lot of ways, the pandemic has really accelerated where we wanted to go which is to provide more young people, who are furthest away from opportunity with access to it.

Is there one thing, perhaps a piece of advice or an observation that you would like to share with young people?

The first thing I would like to say is that I continue to be inspire by the resourcefulness and resilience of the young people we work with, so I would like to start by saying thank you: you continue to inspire the work that we do.

The thing that I’ve noticed after years is that talent is never the issue when you talk about how people progress, it is about access to opportunity, so I would say to you, find every way to access these opportunities and work extra hard to build your networks.

Young Enterprise has now worked with almost five million young people to provide financial education and of that number, over 1.1 million have gone on to set up their own businesses, using the tools provided by Young Enterprise.