The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2025.

The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge—brought to you by Verizon and Unloc—is an annual event centred around finding the best young talent across Europe.

If you’re 16–25 and have a fresh and innovative tech-led idea, The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge could help you get your business off the ground—or if you’ve already launched, boost it to the next level.

Previous year’s finalists’ ideas included:

• Wind turbines powered by the airflow of passing vehicles.
• Zero-waste edible biofilm to replace plastic in the silage process.
• A wearable device to optimise performance & reduce physical injury recovery time.
• A breathalyser that analyses organic chemicals and biomarkers to determine lung cancer susceptibility.
• Home-compostable 3D-printed filaments made from algae and waste cooking oils to reduce single-use plastics in the medical industry.

The prizes

One-to-one mentorship

You’ll be paired with an enterprise mentor, who will create an individual plan focused on your key priorities. This could be addressing knowledge gaps or helping match you with contacts or services to help get your business off the ground and into orbit. Along with all finalists, you’ll also get a series of exclusive masterclasses with a variety of industry experts; last year’s masterclasses included business finance, legal structures & R&D.

Cash award of £10K (11.75K€*)

The overall winner will receive a £10,000 (11,750€*) grant to help accelerate their business idea or start-up..

* Approximate Euros equivalent. The actual prize will be calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of the award. 

Global One Young World Summit

The winner will also get a trip to the One Young World 2025 Global Summit in Munich. This annual event brings together many of the brightest young leaders from 190+ countries and 250+ organisation. The agenda is packed with events including speeches, workshops and networking events with influential political, business and humanitarian visionaries.

The judging criteria

Applications will be judged on three key factors:

Is it innovative?

• Is the idea unique?
• Does it have a clear unique selling point?
• Is the technology solving the problem in a creative way or filling a gap in the market?

Does it improve sustainability?

• Will the venture improve people’s lives?
• Will it meet social or community needs in a new way?
• Does it meet or sustain a UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)?

Is it viable?

• Can the plan achieve what it states it will do?
• Does it operate within the budget/ resources currently held or will acquire?
• Is the idea investment ready? 
• How will you use the funding if successful?

How to apply

Requirements

Applying is easy:

• Simply record a short video  (at least 60 seconds but no more than 90 seconds).
• Remember to explain how your idea meets the three criteria.
• Hit the “Apply now” button.
• Fill out the application form and submit your video.

Then sit tight, finalists will be announced in early February 2025.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

• Between the ages of 16 and 25 years on 1 February 2025.
• Residents and/or citizens of the U.K. or the continent of Europe.
• Immediate family members of the judging panel are not eligible to apply.
• Previous entrants are welcome to re-enter, but previous finalists are not eligible.

Business proposals must:

• Be legal in all mainland European countries.
• Not have the purpose of political lobbying.
• Be the applicant’s own idea.
• Not infringe on the copyright, patent or intellectual property of others.
• Be submitted in English (both written and video).

Businesses must be either:

• Pre-start (not yet trading).
• No more than three years old.
• Have had an annual turnover of less than £100,000 (120,000€) in its most recent financial year. This includes recipients of grants & donations.

Applications close on 17 January 2025.