South Asia Leadership in Entrepreneurship (SALE – Sri Lanka)

Overall objective of project

Working with local institutions, SALE will encourage entrepreneurship and an enabling environment for start-up businesses; with a focus on the digital economy and e-commerce. SALE will provide young women and men with entrepreneurship training, and raise awareness of opportunities in this sector, through campaigns, competitions and mentoring programmes.

Specific project objectives:

Phase II (from Sep 2024 to Sep 2026)

Goal: Youth in Sri Lanka and Nepal, especially young women, explore opportunities in both local and global economies, and initiate entrepreneurial careers, with support extended by entrepreneurship ecosystem partners and favourable environment created through improved public perception.

• Enhanced capacity of implementing partners to support youth entrepreneurship (specially women in the digital economy and e-commerce)
• Aspirant young entrepreneurs have strengthened capacity for starting enterprises or scaling-up of existing businesses
• Private-sector and the public hold improved perceptions of entrepreneurship

Phase I (from Sep 2021 to Sep 2024)

Goal: Youth of school-leaving or university age in Sri Lanka see entrepreneurship as an attractive career option with grounding in starting and improving their business, within an enabling environment for small business growth.

• Enhanced interest in and knowledge of entrepreneurship, and increased capacity of young men and women to start and improve businesses
• Selected government and higher learning institutions become champions for entrepreneurial activities
• Positive image and support for young entrepreneurs within society

Key achievements of the SALE Phase I

Target beneficiaries

Phase I of SALE project focused on youth between 15 to 24 years, aligning with the UN definition of youth. Accordingly, the primary target groups of the initial interventions focused on school students, vocational trainees, university undergraduates, employed and unemployed youth groups.

Based on the lessons learned from phase I, under the second phase of the project, SALE will target young persons between 15 to 30 years (extending the upper limit), to widen the target audience (to make a broader selection for project interventions), and to ensure the higher impact of the project.

In addition, the project will capacitate the implementing partners to launch an integrated public awareness campaign to promote youth entrepreneurship and reach out to 100,000 youth persons.

Expected results

Phase II of the project aims to support young entrepreneurs and aspirants, with a primary focus on the digital economy and e-commerce, through:

• Developing an integrated and harmonized approach among entrepreneurship ecosystem partners to capacitate 5,000 young women and men with access to information on emerging labour market trends and entrepreneurial opportunities
• Introducing gender and disability-inclusive entrepreneurship development and digital economy promotion programs to capacitate 2,000 youth (including those with disabilities) on digital entrepreneurship and e-commerce
• Enhancing the technical support and advisory programs for 500 youths to start or expand enterprises.

The project also aims to strengthen capacity of implementing partners to sustain project interventions, and continue the public awareness initiatives, such as SPARK Youth Entrepreneurship Competition, School Entrepreneurship Clubs and Entrepreneurship Day programs on annual basis.

Partner(s)

• Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) – Principal Partner for Sri Lanka
• Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) and National Youth Council (NYC) - – Principal Partner for Nepal

This project is linked to Sri Lanka DWCP 2018-2024 Outcome 1.1 (Sri Lankan workforce have more and better employment opportunities) and contributes to ILO P&B 2024-2025 Outcome 4 (Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work).