ILO supported Kulehe project to boost youth entrepreneurship and financial inclusion

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA (ILO News) – The Kulehe project aims to create employment opportunities for 120 young people through skills and entrepreneurship development from both host communities and refugee populations in Nifas Silk Lafto Sub City, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project was launched on 29 January 2025 by Safe Light Initiative, a youth-led NGO and recipient of the ILO and Edukans Foundation supported Youth to Youth Fund (Y2YF).

Out of 120, selected youth will be awarded with seed capital by Safe Light Initiative to launch their own business while others will be introduced to local financial institutions offering digital financial services without traditional requirement for collaterals and business linkage opportunities.

© ILO/Zelalem Alemenew Desta

© ILO/Zelalem Alemenew Desta

Kulehe, meaning “for all” in Ge’ez, a south semitic language originating in Ethiopia. Sileshi Omer, CEO of Safe Light Initiative, explained, “The name reflects the initiative’s inclusive approach. Access to skills and entrepreneurship training is difficult for vulnerable host and refugee communities. Through Kulehe, we will build their capacities on business development and link them to potential investors and aligned businesses.”

The selected youth will be offered in-person coaching on marketing and business plan development. Moreover, the seed capital and business linkages will ensure support for sustainability of their businesses.

© ILO/Zelalem Alemenew Desta

© ILO/Zelalem Alemenew Desta

The launch event featured a panel discussion on sustainable business creation, youth employment strategies, the role of financial institutions in supporting young entrepreneurs and the importance of inclusive policies.

Marta Tsehay Sewasew, National Programme Officer at the ILO, underlined the unemployment challenges in Ethiopia and the role entrepreneurship can play in job creation and development of the economy. “Kulehe represents ILO’s vision to promote youth entrepreneurship and employment by promoting skills development and enterprise creation. By involving financial institutions and private sector partners, Kulehe can build a mutually complimenting ecosystem to start and grow businesses,” she said.

Gezahegn Lemessa, Country Directory, Edukans Foundations, highlighted how financial inclusion can help new business thrive. He explained, “Business growth depends on access to capital and for youth it is one of the major challenges as traditionally asset based collaterals are required to access loans. Kulehe in partnership with local financial institutions is offering an innovative digital financial services taking out these requirements and removing a major hurdle in business development for youth.”

To ensure support to all trainees, Safe Light Initiatives has plans to partner with private companies to provide work-based learning opportunities that will enable them to boost their entrepreneurship potential.

About Y2YF

Youth to Youth Fund is a youth employment model and a competitive grant scheme designed to support youth-led organizations with funding, capacity building and direct technical assistance.

The ILO PROSPECTS program, through Edukans Foundation Ethiopia, is supporting ten youth-led organizations, selected through a competitive process, to implement innovative entrepreneurship programs to promote decent employment for youth.

These organizations received funding from the ILO Youth-to-Youth Fund (Y2YF) to implement innovative entrepreneurship projects that support over 1,000 young people to start and improve their business to promote decent employment for youth projects.

The ILO Y2YF is part of the Netherlands-supported Partnership for Improving Prospects for Forcibly Displaced Persons and Host Communities (PROSPECTS) program.