Cyber Risk Management as a Catalyst for Youth-Led Digital Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies

The fast growth of the digital technologies in the emerging economies has predetermined the youth-led digital entrepreneurship as an essential source of innovation, job creation, and economic inclusion. Nevertheless, the greater dependence on digital platforms has also raised the level of vulnerability to cyber threats like data breaches, phishing, malware attacks and identity theft that disproportionately affect the sustainability of youth-led ventures. This paper is based on the Resource-Based View and the Technology Organization-Environment model to analyze cyber risk management (CRM) as a strategic driver of digital entrepreneurship in young people in developing economies. The quantitative research design was embraced, and survey data was obtained on 249 youth digital entrepreneurs working in the fields of e-commerce, fintech, digital marketing, and technology services. Cyber risk exposure and CRM adoption and the impact of CRM on innovation, business sustainability, trust, access to markets, and economic inclusion were measured using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. It was found out that the most common cyber threat to youth entrepreneurs is data breaches and phishing attacks. Although simple data protection measures demonstrate moderate usage, formal cybersecurity education and incident response strategy is low. The findings of regression indicate that cyber risk management positively influences business sustainability, ability to innovate, trust and market access, and economic inclusion significantly, and all the null hypotheses are rejected. These relationships are reinforced through contextual factors, which include policy support, digital infrastructure, and cybersecurity literacy. The paper concludes that the role of cyber risk management goes beyond a defensive role to become a strategic facilitator of youth-led digital entrepreneurship. It suggests that cybersecurity education should be ingrained in the entrepreneurship programmes, institutional and policy support to start-up cybersecurity should be expanded, and affordable and scalable CRM frameworks should be encouraged to improve sustainable digital entrepreneurship in emerging economies.