The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative for Young, Innovative Entrepreneurs

The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative is launching with two programmes in 2020 that are designed to help young businesses cope with the economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total sum of nearly €3 million will be distributed directly to entrepreneurs in 6 countries to provide them with financial security while they focus on adapting their businesses to the unique struggles they have faced during the crisis.

Looking for fully-funded opportunities, install the Youth Opportunities Android or iOS App here.

If you’re a business owner or founder in the Tourism sector, this is the opportunity for you! Together with the TUI Care Foundation, enpact is launching the COVID-19 Relief Programme for Tourism to support 150 young, innovative businesses in Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, and Jordan through dedicated mentoring, financial backing of up to 9,000 Euros, and expert workshops.

Tourism is one of the sectors hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crisis. One in ten people around the world are employed within the tourism sector, and millions of jobs are now at risk as a result. As a sector, tourism allows for numerous income opportunities for a diverse range of people from all backgrounds in emerging markets.

The COVID-19 Relief Programme for Tourism aims to empower local tourism structures to maintain jobs, create new prospects, and help destinations revive international tourism and collaborate with the key actors in the German tourism industry. The programme is open for young, innovative businesses that operate in the Travel & Tourism sector or along the Tourism supply chain.

The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative was created to provide direct support for entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Derived from a number of our portfolio products, the Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative supports young, innovative businesses with a curated combination of mentoring, workshops, network building and funding.

In recent years, the German Development Cooperation has placed a special focus on supporting innovative businesses and startups in emerging and developing countries. After all, it is precisely these businesses that develop innovative solutions to local problems, create jobs, unlock potential for growth, and ultimately become role models and pillars of their societies. The COVID-19 pandemic poses an acute threat to years of hard work to establish and grow these businesses due to its economic consequences, both in the short and long term.

Comprehensive relief programmes, such as stimulus packages that exist in the well-established economies, often do not exist in emerging and developing countries. Subsequently, a fast and direct response is immediately needed to provide resources, mentoring and financial support for young, innovative entrepreneurs in emerging economies.

Based on existing support programmes in Germany and their adaptation to local contexts, founders and their businesses can be supported efficiently and effectively to help them sustain their business and grow through this challenging time. The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative will allow us to implement a modern solution to development cooperation — one that is focused on sustained economic growth.