On May 15–16, Moscow hosted the II BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum, bringing together 1,400 delegates from 50 countries. The forum focused on strengthening regional cooperation between BRICS and countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the CIS. The agenda also included creating a barrier-free environment for women entrepreneurs, sharing expertise and technologies, developing special economic zones, supporting creative industries, and advancing projects in energy, sustainable development, and healthcare.

For the first time, the 2025 forum introduced a youth programme, organized by the World Youth Festival Directorate (WYFD). This innovative format aims to foster cross-generational dialogue and build lasting connections between experienced entrepreneurs and the new generation. The programme featured 12 business leaders from 6 countries: South Africa, India, Indonesia, Bahrain, Egypt, and Russia, who hosted open-mic discussions, role-based dialogues, and TED-style talks for young women entrepreneurs.

On May 15, the session titled “Generations X, Y, Z: Approaches to Building a Business” featured a role-based dialogue where representatives of three generations shared their perspectives on entrepreneurship based on real business cases. Experts analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each generation’s approach and discussed how to leverage these differences for business success.

The session “Online or Offline Business: Which to Prioritize?” offered an open-mic format, allowing participants to ask questions and receive advice on how different business models affect consumer preferences and behavior. Meanwhile, a TED-style talk “How to Raise Capital and Enter the BRICS Market” covered strategies to attract investment, successful cases of entering the BRICS market, and key principles for working with investors.

On May 16, the youth programme hosted a simulation game “Leadership Code”, where two experts formed teams to navigate a business crisis. The format focused on addressing issues of gender equality and stereotypes.

“Youth entrepreneurship is an important area of international cooperation. The World Youth Festival 2024 in Sirius gave new momentum to developing global ties. Together with Rosmolodezh.Enterprise, we created a community of entrepreneurs aimed at uniting 10,000 young people worldwide, offering unique opportunities for networking, project promotion, and investment through major business events like the Youth Day at SPIEF. Organizing the youth programme at the II BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum is another step toward supporting young innovators and building a community of socially responsible entrepreneurs. The programme includes cross-generational dialogues, where experienced top managers will offer mentoring sessions and share expertise with young entrepreneurs”, emphasized Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the World Youth Festvial Directorate.

The forum also announced the launch of a mentorship programme for young women entrepreneurs in BRICS countries.

“Together with the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, we are also launching a mentorship programme to connect beginners with experts, offering a long-term support system. Each young business founder will be assigned a personal mentor to help scale their business. We expect first success stories to happen as early as this year”, shared Dmitry Ivanov.

Anna Nesterova, Chair of the Russian Section of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance (WBA) and founder of Palekh Watch manufactory, added: “We are developing a BRICS mentorship programme under the auspices of the WBA. It will be a system where top entrepreneurs and experts from 19 countries support, guide, and mentor women business leaders navigating today’s BRICS business landscape”.

The youth programme of the II BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum attracted a total of over 300 participants.

In June 2024, Moscow hosted the first BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum as part of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship agenda. The event was highly praised by both governments and business communities across BRICS nations. Its key outcomes were presented to BRICS leaders at the Kazan Summit. Following the XVI BRICS Summit, the Alliance was tasked with hosting the BRICS Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum on a regular basis.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival took place on March 1–7, 2024 in Sirius, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.

On the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the WYF will be held in Russia on a regular basis – once in six years. Also, every six years 10,000 young people from all over the world will get together at the World Youth Festival Forum, and in between, international themed assemblies for 2,000 participants will be held under the auspices of the WYF. The first Assembly is scheduled to take place in September 2025 in Nizhny Novgorod. Festival events of various formats will be held in Russia annually.

According to the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation on the preservation and development of the Festival legacy, the World Youth Festival Directorate continues the work aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation.