YES Fund is focused on supporting youth entrepreneurship activities, particularly in the five key development sectors identified by the Campaign. Working in these areas enables the YES Fund to support activities that will create lasting change in pressing development areas as well as to allow the YES Fund to leverage “effective and next practices” among youth working in different geographies and on various business ventures. The YES Fund will sponsor two primary sets of activities as detailed below:
| #1 - Building Local Capacity and Identifying Entrepreneurs |
# 2 - Providing Seed Funding and Offering Continued Support |
- Leverage YES networks to identify potential youth entrepreneurs
- Provide support to networks that have demonstrated strong local “buy-in” to YES agenda and implemented robust programs
- Provide targeted business management and technical skills training to enable youth to develop viable business plans
- Utilize online distance learning software, where appropriate
- Conduct business plan competitions to select winning youth businesses
- creen applicants and provide feedback
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- Oversee at-risk capital disbursements
- Monitor performance of funded initiatives using screening tools to assess impact (social, environmental, and financial)
- Leverage “effective and next practices” to connect youth with appropriate partners
- Develop interactive website to connect entrepreneurs and to track their progress
- Match youth with strong mentors to provide strategic advice to new and growing ventures
- Oversee existing and develop new institutional partnerships
- versee investment of YES Fund capital to provide reliable returns that sustain Fund
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YES Fund will provide support to selected entrepreneurs throughout their development process. This strategy will enable us to validate the YES Fund model by proving our ability to support entrepreneurs successfully, to track their impact, and to direct disbursements to those who will use the at-risk capital and support effectively. In addition, slower and smaller disbursements at the onset will prevent YES Fund depletion and maximize the impact. Building Local Capacity A key feature of the success of the YES Campaign is the way it has effectively linked two pressing problems in developing countries: youth unemployment and immense development needs including energy, safe water and sanitation, access to information and communication technology, value-added rural employment, and employment in the HIV/AIDS sector. YES has effectively begun bridging both issues by championing an employment-based approach in dealing with development challenges. The end objective is to put together a system that creates markets and unleashes entrepreneurship. This will enable youth to identify opportunities and to work with local, autonomous YES network teams to pursue viable opportunities for self-employment. The YES Fund will work in partnership with leaders and innovators in existing YES networks to imaginatively address specific development challenges though a market-driven enterprise approach. The YES Fund will accomplish this by encouraging YES networks to invest in strong, creative local programming and to think critically about how to establish sustainable employment generation models and markets. Networks will be eligible to apply for funding specific capacity-building activities once they have effectively demonstrated the ability to implement robust training programs and developed multi-stakeholder engagement strategies (i.e. established formal, pro-youth government policies, secured firm local banking support, and identified matching funds from governments, private sector donors, financing institutions, or individuals.) Training Entrepreneurs A second component of the YES Fund, particularly at the onset, is to provide focused business management and technical skills training to prepare youth to produce viable business plans. The objective is to help youth design and present projects that will attract local financing. Training will likely include an online component as well as targeted face-to-face workshops. Core skills may include: basic organizational planning, project management, basic accounting, supplier and customer management strategies, marketing, time and priority management, and business plan writing. All training programs will be run through selected YES country networks and monitored by the YES Fund. Youth entrepreneurship activities could include, but are not limited to, the following ideas:
| Targeted Sector |
Objectives |
Sample Projects |
| Renewable Energy |
Organize youth at community level to assemble, install, service, and market renewable energy systems |
- Provide energy for agro-based industries for making fruit juices, pickles, and vegetables
- Manufacture small refrigerators for storing medicine, milk
- Manufacture and install small home systems such as solar panels and solar cookers
- Sell lanterns for night-time fishing activities
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| Water and Sanitation |
Integrate youth in community processes to improve the availability and supply of clean drinking water and sanitation services |
- Support income-generating programs in rain water-harvesting, storage, and supply
- Organize community level training for youth to build and maintain low cost toilets
- Train youth to build and maintain hand pumps to provide water supply to rural communities
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| Rural Development |
Mobilize youth to develop agricultural extension programs |
- Plant leguminous trees for dry season feeding
- Build agro-business value chains to produce new farm products
- Develop businesses aimed at efficient resource management
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| Information Communication Technology (ICT) |
Develop programs to support ICT-based entrepreneurship |
- Develop businesses that offer web-based services (i.e. website design, e-marketing)
- Use technology to monitor agricultural crops and planting cycles
- Develop ways to incorporate ICT into educational programs for students
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| Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS |
Improve reproductive health and family planning choices |
- Conduct pilot programs to evaluate the correlation between economic empowerment and improved reproductive health
- Run support and mentorship networks for orphans living with HIV/AIDS
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Providing At-risk Capital YES Fund will support young entrepreneurs through at-risk funding. Initially, YES Fund awards will be granted through publicly announced competitions held twice a year. As the YES Fund grows and the pool of trained youth entrepreneurs expands, awards may be considered on the basis of nominations from other funded businesses or local partners. Applicants will be required to submit detailed business plans including:
- A description of the proposed business and how it will operate
- Problems and issues the business will address
- Detailed budget and cash flow projections
- Period of time for which funds are requested
- Management qualifications
- Present means of support and status of applications to other funding sources
- Legal and tax status.
The business plan selection committee will select youth on the merits of their proposed business plans. Selection criteria include:
- Viability of plan (size of market, specific product/service offering, penetration objectives, level of initial investment required, revenue and cost projections, time to breakeven, proposed steps to mitigate specific risks)
- Qualifications of manager and affiliated network
- Projected impact on community (ability to create new jobs, benefit of product/service to target market, mentorship of others)
We expect to receive some renewals as the YES Fund is committed to generating long-term business strategies and solutions. However, if renewal funding is requested, the YES Fund will consider the success of the implementation and the business’ contribution to advancing the YES Fund’s objectives. At-risk funding is expected to range from $1,000-5,000. Funding will only be made to incorporated businesses, not individuals. Funds will be limited in relation to the number of worthwhile proposals received and management/network time needed to oversee effective use of the funds. In the first year, the YES Fund expects to fund 15 businesses assuming an average size of $2,500. Offering Continued Support The final component of YES Fund activity is to provide youth entrepreneurs with the support they need to actually implement their business ideas and to grow their enterprises. The YES Fund will ensure that funded networks match funded youth with active, strong mentors to provide financial and strategic advice as they develop their businesses. In addition, the YES Fund may develop an interactive component to its website to connect funded entrepreneurs to one another as well as to allow others to track their progress.
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