YouthInvest: Financial and Non-Financial Innovations for Youth (Egypt)

YouthInvest will build on the experience MEDA has gained in youth and microfinance since 2002.

The goals of the project are:

  • To support microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing savings and credit products to strengthen the capacity of youth-run enterprises in Egypt and Morocco
  • To assess and improve safety conditions in the workplace
  • To support improved education and training opportunities for youth to ensure improved long-term prospects and to contribute to a higher quality workforce.

MFIs will be the primary points of contact with youth clients, delivering financial and non-financial services to young entrepreneurs and enterprises employing youth. MFI staff will be trained in these interventions, and will in turn deliver them to working youth and business owners as appropriate.

Workforce readiness training will be delivered by specialist youth-serving organisations; MFIs could
potentially provide linkage support to trained youth, by connecting them to high-growth clients. Within five years, YouthInvest will directly touch the lives of over 50,000 young people - connecting them with innovative financial products and services that will build their economic prosperity, improve their working lives, enhance their workplace safety, and lead to a better quality of life for their families and themselves.

Contact Information:

Jennifer Denomy, Project Manager
jdenomy@meda.org

Performance Period:

September 2008 to 2013