Youth and Women Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Programme (YWAE)
YWAE aims to create new agribusinesses and support existing ones for women and youth in South Sudan. By improving their access to finance and markets, farmers can be boosted from subsistence to commercial levels. The focus is on groundnut, sorghum, moringa, fisheries, honey and cassava value chains.
SPARK partners with Premium Agro-hub, local business skills training consultants, to develop training materials for and to give training to 350 illiterate entrepreneurs. Demand-driven rent-to-own schemes have been utilised for beehives and fishing nets, and in-kind loans are provided to SMEs, such as seeds for groundnuts or moringa seedlings.
Moringa, being highly nutritious and thus able to contribute to food security, was selected as value chain for a business plan competition. Selected businesses will receive support at the SPARK business incubator, where entrepreneurs have the opportunity to utilise processing machines and coaching services to start their agribusinesses.
Opening pathways to employment
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381youth trained
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517loans provided for entrepreneurs
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368businesses created