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Foundations & Partners

Entrepreneurship & Livelihood Development

Support young people to explore employment, digital work and small-business pathways where formal jobs alone cannot absorb labour-market growth.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-30

Challenge Context

The Challenge

In many emerging markets, large numbers of young people are entering working age while formal job creation remains constrained. Programmes therefore need to prepare participants for employment while also helping them assess enterprise, freelancing, side-hustle and community-based income opportunities realistically.

Evidence

What the Evidence Says

1.2 billion

The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion young people in emerging economies will reach working age over the next decade.

420 million

Only about 420 million jobs are expected to be generated over the same period under current projections.

2.2 billion

ITU estimated that 2.2 billion people remained offline in 2025, showing why digital-income models must account for connectivity and affordability gaps.

Root Causes

Why the Gap Persists

Entrepreneurship training can become overly theoretical or assume participants already have capital, customers or strong digital access. Learners need practical opportunity discovery, simple business economics, customer communication, financial basics and suitable digital channels.

Desired Outcome

What Good Looks Like

Participants can compare realistic livelihood routes, test opportunities, understand basic business economics, communicate with customers, manage money and decide whether employment, enterprise or a blended income strategy fits their context.

xtraLesson Response

How xtraLesson Can Address It

xtraLesson Youth can provide employability, side-hustle, entrepreneurship, small-business and financial-capability learning assembled around a sponsor’s target population and local opportunity context.

Mapped Learning

Relevant xtraLesson Learning

Explore xtraLesson academies, courses and Learning Paths relevant to this use case. Available learning will expand as more programmes are released.

Academies

xtraLesson Youth
Included with xtraLesson All Access

xtraLesson Youth

Youth employability, entrepreneurship, and livelihood development.

60 courses · 22 Learning Paths

Explore Academy

Courses

Deployment Model

Illustrative Deployment

Illustrative model: a four-month livelihood accelerator combining personal effectiveness, opportunity discovery, digital-freelancing or local-enterprise tracks, financial capability and a final action plan, complemented by local mentors or market linkages.

Measuring Impact

What to Measure

Track pathway completion, business or action plans, portfolio or service creation, financial-literacy improvement, mentor validation, enterprise launches and income or employment indicators where they can be measured responsibly.

Sources

Evidence & Further Reading

Sources and publication dates are provided below so you can review the context behind the evidence used in this article.

  1. World Bank — Jobs: The Surest Way to Fight Poverty and Unlock Prosperity (2025)

    Global youth jobs challenge in emerging economies.

  2. International Telecommunication Union — Facts and Figures 2025 (2025)

    Global internet use, offline population and digital divides.

Next Step

Discuss This Use Case

Tell us your audience, scale, capability priorities, language needs and timeline. xtraLesson can help translate the use case into a scoped pilot or managed programme.

Discuss a Pilot