Young Entrepreneurs Initiative looking for a buyer

Young Entrepreneurs Initiative (YEI) is a mentoring program for entrepreneurs based in the United States who have a project to undertake a technology venture in France. The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is canceling its funding and is therefore seeking a taker.

The Scientific and Technological Mission of the French Embassy in the United States which designed, developed and implemented this program has issued a call for expressions of interest to all French partners likely to be interested: actors in technology transfer, entrepreneurship and mentoring for innovation in France as well as foundations, consulting agencies, banks and industrialists attuned to entrepreneurship and innovation.

The YEI is proud of its accomplishments. Since its inception in 2005, over 140 projects have been filed, 36 of them mentored, about a dozen set up or about to be and the Scientific and Technological Mission emphasizes the program’s reputation and the “extensive and solid” networks formed on either side of the Atlantic.

The YEI enjoys “the support of many partners as well as the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs "which will continue in a capacity that remains to be defined.” The buyer should commit to developing or continuing to develop the program over a period of at least three years.

Deadline for filing expressions of interest is May 15, 2009.