Empowering Youth
and Creating Jobs

High youth unemployment despite a growing economy

Egypt’s economy has been growing in the past years, and so has the job market. At the same time, this job market needs to absorb an also growing young population. Around 17 per cent of Egypt’s population are between the age of 15 and 24. Most of them are looking for decent job opportunities. Yet, finding employment turns out difficult for many of them. Unemployment affected 7.3 per cent of the country’s population in 2022. With 17.1 per cent, the youth unemployment rate covering the work force aged 15 to 24 is significantly higher.

The growing economy in Egypt is especially driven by the mobility sector and agriculture. To continue to grow these industries need young talents to fill vacancies and to push progress. Oftentimes however, young people, even university graduates, lack the competencies required by companies.

To foster employment among young people in this context, Invest for Jobs partners with Enactus Egypt. Enactus is an international non-profit organisation seeking to develop young entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators through experiential learning. With the support of Invest for Jobs Enactus Egypt has launched the NextGen Onboard Programme.

Unleashing young people’s untapped potential

Enactus Egypt was founded in 2004 and is operating under the umbrella of the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity. Around 10,000 students are part of its ecosystem: They are entrepreneurial, value-driven social innovators across 56 campuses in all of the country’s governorates.

The new project NextGen Onboard puts a special focus on closing the gap between the Egyptian private sector’s needs and youth unemployment among university graduates. Young talents shall receive the training needed to become valuable employees for local employers. This will create a win-win situation, reducing youth unemployment and further strengthening Egypt’s position as an attractive business location.

The project will go through several stages. First, a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) engaging around 100 private sector enterprises in different sectors will be conducted. It shall identify sectors worth focusing on, provide an idea about their current job creation potential and what skills are demanded. Knowing the needs of local employers will enable Enactus Egypt to offer effective tailormade trainings to students within their ecosystem. The goal is to enroll 800 young people into these trainings, which will be designed based on the TNA results once available.

The Agribusiness and Food Processing sector is one of the country’s growth drivers and full of potential for further development as well as job creation. For that reason, a Special Competition for project ideas within this sector will be launched in cooperation with a wide range of companies inside industrial zones. Enactus students are invited to develop projects – from idea to execution - that tackle diverse real-world challenges in close cooperation with companies. The best sustainable solutions would be implemented on an industrial zone level. For the next two years, a Career Fair in the sector is being planned, to better connect employers and potential job candidates.

In the context of NextGen Onboard Egypt, Enactus will also collaborate with and make use of the United Nations’ Platform “Generation Unlimited”. Through the platform, young people are being prepared for the labour market through trainings and skill development. Enactus can use the platform to announce new vacancies and track the hires. The tool can be continued to use even after project completion and serve as a sustainable way for Enactus and Egyptian businesses to track business and employment needs in the country.

Connecting businesses with young talents for job creation and sustainable growth

Throughout the project, the partners have committed to creating at least 1200 jobs for young graduates in Egyptian companies. 500 new jobs are planned for 2024 and 700 new jobs for 2025. 50 per cent of those job positions shall be filled by female candidates.

Implementation began in July 2023 and is currently in its initial phase, where the Training Needs Analysis is being prepared and conducted. Complementing the TNA, there has been an Enactus survey running over the past three years, inquiring about student’s academic and professional backgrounds as well as their employment situation. In the next step, both surveys’ results will be evaluated, combined and put into use. The aim is to implement the first training courses in November 2023, creating the first jobs within several months.

Enactus Egypt is supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in the context of Invest for Jobs on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).