Aussie delegate named CEO of young entrepreneurs’ network

Jeremy Liddle has been named chief entrepreneur officer of the Enterprise Network for Young Australians, after leading the Australian delegation at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit.

Liddle, a 30-year-old entrepreneur based in Sydney, travelled to Mexico earlier this month to represent Australia at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit.

He has now been appointed the CEO (chief entrepreneur officer) of the Enterprise Network for Young Australians, which supports and promotes the participation of young people in enterprise.

Every country that attends the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit is required to have a partner organisation, and ENYA is the partner organisation for Australia.

Founded in 2003, ENYA provides more than 100 low-interest loans a year to help young people start their own business. The ENYA Microenterprise Loan is provided in conjunction with NAB.

In addition to a loan of up to $20,000 at 5.99% interest, ENYA offers support in formulating a business plan, a mentor throughout the starting stages of the business, and the ongoing legal and accounting support for funded businesses.

Liddle is charged with the task of growing the loan scheme.

“The media has recently been reporting of the brain drain of intelligent motivated young entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley,” Liddle says.

“This program by ENYA will help to encourage these and other young entrepreneurs to remain in Australia and build the Australian economy.”

“It’s an amazing program – the microenterprise loan – but no one really knows about it. Not even NAB branch managers know about it.”

“Every bank should be offering it, not just NAB. However, I don’t know if I will hit my head against the wall with the other banks.”

“It’s a $100 million fund, with 100 to 150 loans approved at any one time. I’m hoping I can get that up to 5,000. That’s my first big project – get the word out to as many people as possible.”

Meanwhile, Liddle says the summit was “really productive”.

“McKinsey and Ernst & Young both ran workshops, so there were about 400 delegates around the world that went,” Liddle says.

“The major [lesson learnt] is how these not-for-profits work, and their scope to create a better landscape for entrepreneurs in Australia and small business. That was the key learning for me.”

“But also things like youth unemployment. It’s not really an issue in Australia but, as part of the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit, we’re responsible for helping other nations come up with solutions for helping unemployed youth.”

Liddle says start-ups and companies established for less than five years are vital to job creation efforts in Australia and around the world.

“Entrepreneurial activities and small businesses are hiring [young] people, so why aren’t the world’s leaders looking at promoting entrepreneurship and helping us solve these problems?”