Promoting Employment Through Entrepreneurship Among Women and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa

This grant supports the International Organisation of La Francophonie in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth by emphasizing job creation through the development of entrepreneurship for youth and women in high-potential sectors. The project: 1) will focus on providing target countries with technical support so they can create or sustain “business incubator” type structures that provide direct individual guidance to a certain number of youth and women entrepreneurs on various aspects of entrepreneurship and with training on the same topics to “non-incubated” entrepreneurs in the digital sector; 2) will provide technical support to the target countries with a view to creating and consolidating an environment that fosters job creation by youth and women entrepreneurs notably through the North/South and South/South exchange of best practices for building national capacities related to encouraging entrepreneurship and to optimizing and aligning the administrative legislative and regulatory framework in the field; and 3) will hold activities to raise awareness about women’s economic empowerment issues and about social and environmental responsibility in development. It will also seek to support networks of youth and women entrepreneurs so they can defend their interests.

The expected results of this project include: 1) strengthening the entrepreneurial abilities of young Francophone entrepreneurs; 2) consolidating an institutional legal and financial environment in the target countries that fosters business creation and/or development; 3) enabling Francophone stakeholders in charge of employment matters to have more access to multi-stakeholder exchange spaces.