A five-year program funded by the Government of Canada will equip 50,000 youth with the skills, tools, and financing to build sustainable livelihoods and resilient futures.

East Africa is home to one of the youngest populations in the world, where millions of people under 30 are entering a workforce that isn’t generating enough jobs to employ them. Opportunity Rising is FINCA’s response to this challenge. The ambitious five-year initiative — launched in 2025 by FINCA Canada and funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) — will equip 50,000 youth in Tanzania and Uganda with the much-needed skills, training, and capital to start and grow their own business and build stable, resilient livelihoods.

Twenty-eight-year-old Gloria is one of the young entrepreneurs participating in the program. She runs a bustling shop in downtown Kampala, Uganda, selling handbags she imports directly from China. Her products are in high demand, and she spends her days managing a constant stream of customers and orders.

Keeping her shelves stocked used to be a constant struggle. To keep up with demand, she turned to moneylenders who supplied fast cash — but at punishing rates with daily repayments. “I wasn’t working for myself anymore,” she said. “I was working for the lender.”

Everything changed the day a FINCA loan officer offered her something different: a loan designed for young entrepreneurs, without traditional collateral requirements and instead based on strong business performance. Within three days, Gloria secured financing that freed her from short-term debt cycles and gave her room to plan and grow. “My goal is no longer just survival,” she said. “It’s stability.”

The hurdles Gloria faced are common, and they are exactly what Opportunity Rising is addressing. Through vocational training, tailored financial services, and partnerships with local businesses, the program will give more than 50,000 young people in Tanzania and Uganda — 60% of them women — the tools and support they need to build brighter futures.

A Continent of Potential, Hungry for Opportunity

Across Africa, a new generation is stepping into adulthood ready to work, learn, and forge their own paths forward. In Tanzania and Uganda, more than 70% of the population is under 30, amounting to over 85 million youths who have the energy and ambition to succeed, but encounter limited options for stable employment.

The challenge is structural: Economies across the region are not creating enough formal jobs to absorb the millions entering the workforce each year, leaving most young people to rely on informal work or self-employment. For young women, the opportunities are even fewer. In Uganda, 20% of young women are unemployed, and in Tanzania, young women are 50% more likely to be unemployed than young men.

With formal jobs in such short supply, many African youths turn to entrepreneurship out of necessity. But growing a business requires capital, skills, and market access — none of which are easy to come by. And a lack of collateral and credit history puts traditional financing out of reach. Confronted with so many barriers, even the most determined young entrepreneurs struggle to support themselves.

Opportunity Rising recognizes that unlocking the potential of this generation is critical to East Africa’s future. When young people have the tools and resources to work, earn, and build stable livelihoods, entire communities benefit from higher incomes, lower unemployment, and more resilient economies.

A Market-Based Approach to Empowering Africa’s Youth

The Opportunity Rising initiative brings together local businesses, training providers, and banking partners to create lasting pathways to income and employment for young entrepreneurs like Gloria.

Through FINCA Tanzania and FINCA Uganda, participants open accounts and can access loans designed specifically for young borrowers — for many, their first experience with formal financial services. In Uganda, this includes the Youth Empowerment Loan that Gloria received, with flexible requirements and repayment terms tailored to small-business cash flows.

In addition to responsible capital, participants receive vocational training to learn trades and small-scale production in high-demand sectors. FINCA also provides financial literacy education through a mix of in-person and mobile channels to help them manage income, savings, and borrowing decisions.

For young women in particular, Opportunity Rising works to remove the most common barriers that stand in their way: connecting them to financing they can access and control privately, pairing them with business opportunities that fit their realities, and ensuring that safeguarding and anti-harassment systems are built in. It also puts them in contact with successful women mentors and role models.

Year One Results Point to Promising Momentum

In its first year, Opportunity Rising has already delivered measurable results:

• 3,400+ young people in Tanzania and Uganda have accessed FINCA’s financial services, nearly half of them young women.

• 3,300+ youth have launched or grown their businesses through the program’s support, and their enterprises have contributed to the creation of 4,000+ additional jobs.

• 3,900+ youth have received financial literacy training.

The initiative also works to strengthen the systems that will support young entrepreneurs for years to come. FINCA is expanding mobile and agent-based access to help more youth access capital, while aligning vocational training more closely with sectors where demand exists. Ongoing research and feedback loops ensure that financial services, training, and partnerships continue to adapt to the realities of young people’s lives.

Gloria’s experience shows what these results look like in practice. With financing designed around her business needs, for the first time, she can maintain inventory, keep pace with what her customers want, and make decisions with growing confidence. What was once a cycle of short-term borrowing has evolved into a sustainable business with a real future. “I’m not just selling bags anymore,” Gloria said proudly. “I’m building something that will last.”

This article first appeared on finca.org