| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Support for Young Entrepreneurs and Urban Job Creation |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
SPF |
Status: |
Open |
| File Number: |
| Region: |
AFR |
| Sector: |
Health and other social services |
Country: |
Cote d'Ivoire |
| FY approved: |
2009 |
Grant Theme : |
Social dev/gender/inclusion |
| Keyword(s): |
Children and youth |
Approved Amount: |
$2,000,000.00 |
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Grant Recipient:
TechnoServe |
Grant Purpose:
The project will support a program to generate employment opportunities for unemployed urban youth in Cote d'Ivoire. The development objective is to help young entrepreneurs launch successful businesses and generate employment while also promoting corporate social responsibility.
More specifically, the project will help identify promising entrepreneurs and provide them with tools to start and grow their businesses. Through this experience, the initiative will also help to rebuild relationships between private businesses and youth, which suffered during the crisis due to violent acts committed by some youth groups, by providing a framework for businesses to exercise corporate social responsibility centered on empowering young entrepreneurs, and young female entrepreneurs in particular.
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Grant Activities:
Component 1: Supporting Young Entrepreneurs and Urban Job Creation
The objective of this component is to enable young entrepreneurs to launch sustainable businesses. Activities consist of a program of training, mentoring, technical assistance and access to finance to help fledgling entrepreneurs turn ideas into fundable and implementable business plans.
The project will support the launching of a media campaign to raise awareness about the program and invite the target group to submit applications, proposing a new business idea or the expansion of an existing business, which will be based in Abidjan or its surroundings. Approximately 100 individuals will participate in intensive business training and 1-on-1 sessions with business consultants to prepare draft business plans. Twenty winners will have the opportunity to implement their business plans, receiving $15,000 seed capital in cash, plus continued business development support at a value of $10,000. Additional 10 projects will receive business development support at a value of $10,000.
The project will support two business plan competitions (30 finalists for each, for total of 60 winners/entrepreneurs to be supported in launching their businesses).
Following each competitions, the implementing agency will work with partners to ensure that the business are launched within one first year and continue to receive support during the first year of operation.
Component 2: Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility
This component will finance a series of events with stakeholders, including government, universities, private sector and donors to promote approaches to corporate social responsibility. This will include inviting representatives from major businesses, including from other country experiences, to speak on their experience and share solutions for some of the challenges faced in Cote d’Ivoire. There will be five events held over the two-year period of the project, and co-financing will be sought from private partners as well as technical and financial partners in Cote d’Ivoire.
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