Budding young entrepreneurs will have the chance to take their business ideas to the next level in a new program for 15-25 year olds.
The Youth Entrepreneurs Hub will be launched during Youth Week on April 14 and will kick off with an intensive mindset bootcamp.
The program is being delivered by Newcastle council and Hunter Futurepreneurs, with participants having access to the city's digital library with 3D printing facilities and podcasting studio.
Young entrepreneur Matthew Shilcock, 20, participated in a shorter but similar program last year, which helped him launch his recently established additive manufacturing business.
Having had a lifelong passion for making things, which led to starting blacksmithing at age 14, he said the program gave him the confidence and motivation to progress his idea.
Program facilitator Anoushka Naik said the bootcamp would run for eight months, broken down into weekly sessions focusing on ideation, product development, legalities, marketing, networking and pitching.
"It's a really great opportunity for young people, so they don't think the only option is just going to work for somebody, or go to uni or TAFE," she said.
Ms Naik said there was a lot of uncertainty in the youth sector and this gave young people a chance to see where their ideas could go.
"There might not be a lot of jobs out there, but you can create your own jobs. If there's something that you're passionate about doing, or there's a skill you already have, let us help you harness it," she said.
"At least they can take a stab at it and go, 'I tried this and it hasn't worked out to be for me'. It's just a matter of giving them the opportunity to try because if they don't try, they won't know."
Deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said council's involvement stemmed from its youth employment charter which acknowledged the impacts of COVID on young people and high youth unemployment.
"We know that the best mechanism of trying to reduce youth unemployment rates is by helping provide young people with the skills that they need to gain new jobs and experiences," he said. "Programs like this are a great entry point, particularly for young people that do have an entrepreneurial idea, but aren't necessarily sure how to progress and take that forward."
He said the program would in turn improve the city's economic development.
"We've already started to see as a result of COVID the changing workforce and demographics of the region," he said. "Accelerating and investing early in entrepreneurship is how we create new successful businesses and opportunities for people going forward."
