Youth employment and entrepreneurship

At SNV, we believe that providing young people with opportunities for employment and enterprise development is essential for creating sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous communities. Our Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (YEE) portfolio of projects and programs, now in more than 10 African countries, applies a market systems approach to unlock systemic barriers that hinder young people from accessing opportunities. We facilitate their access to economic opportunities while contributing to an enabling environment. We do this in partnership with key actors like national governments, private sector actors, civil society organisations and development partners. We put the voice of young people at the core of our programming and apply an inclusive market systems approach to youth employment and enterprise development in agri-food, water, energy, and other emerging sectors.

Young people, particularly in Africa and Asia, are more likely to be unemployed, underemployed, or working in poverty. Young women, rural youth, persons with disabilities, and other socially excluded groups often face even greater barriers to employment. Structural barriers also prevent young people from entering the labour market, highlighting the need for economic empowerment and employment opportunities.

At SNV, we aim to contribute to sustainably addressing systemic challenges in partnership with other key players, including young people. We integrate climate-smart and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) responsive approaches that support markets to function more effectively and beneficially for young people.

The YEE Access-Match-Grow-Enable (A-M-G-E) Contextual framework is applied to provide entrepreneurial out-of-school, unemployed, and underemployed young women and men, aged 18-35, with the tools, skills, and networks to identify employment opportunities or start and develop social and financial enterprises, thus providing opportunities for themselves and others. The A-M-G-E contextual framework facilitates linkages between the labour market (demand side) and skilled youth (supply side) to stimulate investiment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

The Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (YEE) portfolio is built around the Access-Match-Grow-Enable) A-M-G-E contextual framework. This market‑oriented framework strengthens the pathways that help young people secure decent work and build sustainable enterprises. It is designed to support the growth of youth‑led social and financial enterprises while expanding employment opportunities for young women and men.

Each component plays a specific role in improving youth employment outcomes. The Access component facilitates access to market opportunities and supports youth enterprises to connect with businesses. Match links young people to finance and assets. The Grow component focuses on building skills and agency via targeted training on business development and life skills, coaching, and mentoring. Enable works at the policy and systems level to create an inclusive environment where youth and youth‑led businesses can thrive.

Together, these pathways form the foundation of SNV’s YEE Global strategy 2025-2030. They provide the tools, skills, networks and supportive conditions that young people need to identify viable opportunities, enter the labour market, and start or grow enterprises in sectors with strong potential for sustainable development.

The Access component

SNV supports youth employment and entrepreneurship through two complementary strategies.

1. Building innovative and inclusive business models
Many young people face barriers to entering markets. SNV partners with businesses to connect young women and men to jobs, customers, skills, mentorship, finance, and essential inputs. We prioritise companies willing to co-invest in youth inclusion, especially those operating in national and international value chains, creating opportunities for young women, and linking youth entrepreneurs to growing economic hubs such as special economic zones and major investments.

2. Growing youth-led enterprises
Young entrepreneurs need tailored support to overcome diverse business challenges. SNV helps early-stage youth businesses strengthen their position in local and informal markets through practical services, networks, and trade connections. For more established enterprises with growth potential, we provide advanced business development support, investment readiness, and market access. We also promote innovation by helping young people adopt digital tools, mechanical solutions, renewable energy opportunities, and new technologies to reach more customers and create jobs.

The Match component:

SNV helps young women and men gain access to the finance and assets they need to start and grow sustainable businesses.

1. Youth-friendly financial services and products
Many young people struggle to access suitable finance, despite needing capital to enter self-employment. SNV creates practical pathways to finance by raising awareness of available products, promoting savings groups and reinvestment of business income, and connecting youth to new funding sources. This includes de-risking solutions such as insurance, group lending, and guarantee funds, as well as digital and green finance options through partnerships with governments, cooperatives, and financial institutions.

2. Access to land, machinery, and productive assets
Young people often lack the land, tools, machinery, and workspaces needed to succeed. SNV works with families, communities, and local governments to unlock access to these essential assets. In agri-food sectors, this includes identifying available land for youth producers, while also supporting access to start-up equipment, productive spaces, work tools, and extension services.

The Grow component

SNV prepares young women and men to access employment and self-employment through practical skills development and real market experience.

1. Market-relevant skills training
Many disadvantaged young people lack access to quality training that matches local market demand. SNV provides short, certified technical training for immediate job opportunities, alongside longer-term vocational training, mentorship, coaching, and networking support. Entrepreneurship is integrated as a core transferable skill to help young people grow businesses and diversify income. Partnerships with TVET institutions and extension services strengthen long-term impact, while digital learning tools help expand access at scale.

2. Market exposure and mentorship
Young people often need work experience, guidance, and professional networks to compete successfully. SNV supports practical learning through internships, apprenticeships, learning plots, and work-based training that emphasises learning by doing. We partner with businesses, youth-led organisations, women-led groups, disabled people’s organisations, TVET centres, and youth development hubs to ensure training is relevant to market needs. Through mentorship, peer learning, and our youth champions approach, young people gain the confidence, connections, and experience needed to succeed.

The Enable component

SNV, in partnership with other eco-system actors, works to make policy and market systems more inclusive so young women and men can access greater economic opportunities.

1. Convening and catalysing public and private sector action
Young people’s needs are often overlooked because businesses, governments, and service providers are not fully aligned. SNV brings together key stakeholders to identify barriers affecting youth in markets, regulations, training systems, and business support services. Working with young people, we generate evidence to drive stronger policies, better coordination, and more effective implementation at local, regional, and national levels. We also support intergenerational dialogue informed by data and research to address systemic youth employment and entrepreneurship challenges.

2. Co-creating inclusive solutions and strengthening local actors
Public and private sector organisations need stronger incentives and partnerships to solve the challenges young people face. SNV supports stakeholders to design practical, mutually beneficial solutions that improve policy, strategy, and implementation. We work with business associations, chambers of commerce, NGOs, trade bodies, and government partners to create lasting change. At community level, we strengthen local organisations to engage leaders, businesses, and authorities, while nationally we equip youth-led organisations and youth champions with leadership skills and opportunities to shape inclusive economic policies and market decisions.

SNV’s Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (YEE) Theory of Change outlines the systemic changes needed to overcome the barriers that exclude young women and men from jobs and entrepreneurship. It shows how decent work can be created with and for young people through a holistic approach that combines system reform with youth leadership.

The model balances two pathways: systems transformation and youth leadership. The systems transformation pathway focuses on supporting governments, businesses, and financial institutions to improve policies, practices, and business models so they better include young people.

Through stakeholder dialogue, advocacy, youth participation, research, and evidence generation, SNV contributes to helping decision-makers better understand the needs and ambitions of youth. This drives changes in attitudes and actions, leading to stronger partnerships and innovative business models that expand economic inclusion.

The long-term result is sustainable, scalable, market-led solutions that create real opportunities for skilled, market-ready young women and men.