Apply Now: AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants

The AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants provide €31,500 per selected organisation to youth-led non-profit organisations in 12 African countries for advocacy projects that create a more enabling environment for young entrepreneurs. The third and final grant round supports initiatives seeking systemic changes in policies and practices that help young people start, operate, and grow businesses.

What Are the AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants?

The AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants support youth-led organisations working to remove barriers that prevent young people from participating fully in entrepreneurship and economic activities.

The programme focuses on advocacy rather than direct business financing. Applicants are expected to develop projects that influence policies, institutions, practices, or systems affecting young entrepreneurs.

This is the third and final grant round of the programme.

How Much Funding Is Available?

Each selected organisation will receive:

• Grant amount: €31,500
• Purpose: Implementation of an entrepreneurship advocacy project
• Mentorship: Access to tailored guidance
• Capacity development: Support based on organisational needs
• Peer learning: Opportunities to exchange experiences and solutions
• Networking: Engagement with decision-makers and stakeholders across Africa and Europe

The funding is intended to help youth-led organisations turn advocacy ideas into practical initiatives capable of contributing to systemic change.

What Projects Are Supported?

The grants support advocacy initiatives designed to create a stronger enabling environment for youth entrepreneurship.

Projects may address barriers such as:

• Difficulties faced by young people entering entrepreneurship
• Barriers to starting businesses
• Challenges affecting business growth
• Policies that restrict youth economic participation
• Institutional barriers affecting young entrepreneurs
• Gaps in support systems for youth-owned enterprises
• Other systemic obstacles to youth enterprise development

Applicants should demonstrate how their advocacy activities can contribute to policy or practice change at local or national level.

What Is an Entrepreneurship Advocacy Project?

An entrepreneurship advocacy project seeks to influence the systems, policies, institutions, or practices that affect young entrepreneurs.

The objective is not simply to provide individual entrepreneurs with financial assistance.

Instead, an advocacy project could seek to:

• Raise awareness of barriers facing young entrepreneurs
• Generate evidence for policy reform
• Engage policymakers and public institutions
• Build coalitions around youth entrepreneurship
• Promote changes to existing policies or practices
• Strengthen participation of young people in policy discussions
• Advocate for improved entrepreneurial support systems

A strong proposal should clearly identify the problem, decision-makers or stakeholders who can influence it, proposed advocacy actions, and expected systemic change.

Who Is Eligible?

The programme is open to youth-led non-profit organisations that meet the programme’s organisational and geographic requirements.

Eligible organisation types include:

• Trusts
• Community Based Organisations (CBOs)
• NGOs
• Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)
• Cooperatives

Organisations must have a clear social or environmental mission.

Eligible Countries

Applicants must be formally registered and operating in one of the following 12 countries:

• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Mozambique
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia, specifically the Somaliland region
• Tanzania
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Proposed activities must take place in one or more of these eligible countries.

Youth-Led Organisation Requirement

Youth leadership is a core eligibility requirement.

The organisation’s:

• Governance structure, and
• Project implementation teams

must be composed primarily of young people aged 18–35.

Applicants should therefore demonstrate that young people have meaningful responsibility for organisational decision-making and project implementation.

Organisational Experience Requirement

Applicants must have been formally registered and operating for at least 12 months at the time of application.

This requirement helps ensure that funded organisations have an established organisational structure and sufficient experience to deliver their proposed advocacy activities.

Why These Grants Matter

Young entrepreneurs can face significant structural barriers when attempting to start or expand businesses.

These barriers may involve regulations, institutional practices, limited access to support services, or policies that do not adequately respond to the realities of young entrepreneurs.

The AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants focus on addressing these challenges at a systemic level.

Rather than supporting only individual enterprises, the programme gives youth-led organisations resources to advocate for changes that could benefit broader groups of young entrepreneurs.

How to Apply

Step 1: Confirm Eligibility

Check that your organisation:

1. Is a non-profit entity.
2. Is a Trust, CBO, NGO/CSO, or Cooperative.
3. Has a social or environmental mission.
4. Has been legally registered and operating for at least 12 months.
5. Is based and operating in one of the 12 eligible countries.
6. Is genuinely youth-led.
7. Has governance and project teams primarily composed of people aged 18–35.

Step 2: Identify a Systemic Barrier

Clearly define the barrier affecting young entrepreneurs.

Explain:

• What the problem is
• Who is affected
• Why the problem exists
• Which policies, institutions, or practices contribute to it
• Why existing approaches have not adequately solved it

Step 3: Identify the Change You Want

Define the specific policy or practice change your advocacy project seeks to achieve.

For example, the project could aim to influence:

• Government policies
• Institutional practices
• Entrepreneurial support systems
• Regulations
• Public programmes
• Local economic development approaches

The desired change should be realistic and measurable.

Step 4: Develop the Advocacy Strategy

Explain how your organisation will achieve the desired change.

Potential approaches include:

• Research and evidence generation
• Policy dialogue
• Stakeholder consultations
• Public awareness campaigns
• Coalition building
• Engagement with policymakers
• Youth participation in decision-making
• Strategic communications

Step 5: Define Expected Outcomes

Explain what will change because of the project.

Strong outcomes should demonstrate progress toward a more enabling environment for young entrepreneurs.

Step 6: Demonstrate Youth Leadership

Show how young people will lead the advocacy process.

Clearly describe their roles in:

• Governance
• Project management
• Advocacy
• Stakeholder engagement
• Decision-making
• Monitoring and learning

Tips for a Strong Application

Applicants should:

• Focus on systemic change: Explain how the project will influence policies, institutions, or practices.
• Define one clear problem: Avoid trying to address every entrepreneurship challenge at once.
• Identify decision-makers: Specify who has the authority to influence the desired change.
• Use evidence: Support the problem statement with research, community experience, or relevant data.
• Show youth leadership: Demonstrate meaningful participation by people aged 18–35.
• Set measurable advocacy outcomes: Explain what concrete policy or practice changes you expect.
• Build stakeholder support: Identify relevant government, private-sector, civil-society, and youth stakeholders.
• Think beyond the grant period: Explain how advocacy achievements can continue after funding ends.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Applicants should avoid:

• Proposing direct grants or loans to individual entrepreneurs instead of an advocacy project.
• Failing to identify a specific systemic barrier.
• Describing activities without explaining the policy or practice change they are intended to achieve.
• Providing insufficient evidence of youth leadership.
• Applying before the organisation has completed the required 12 months of operation.
• Applying from outside the 12 eligible countries.
• Treating general business development activities as advocacy.
• Setting unrealistic policy-change objectives without identifying relevant stakeholders.

Key Grant Details

• Programme: AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants
• Grant amount: €31,500 per selected organisation
• Grant round: Third and final round
• Applicant type: Youth-led non-profit organisations
• Eligible entities: Trusts, CBOs, NGOs/CSOs, and Cooperatives
• Eligible countries: 12 African countries
• Minimum operating period: 12 months
• Youth leadership: Governance and implementation teams primarily aged 18–35
• Focus: Youth entrepreneurship advocacy
• Primary objective: Systemic policy and practice change
• Additional support: Mentorship and tailored capacity development
• Regional platform: Peer, decision-maker, and stakeholder engagement across Africa and Europe

Frequently Asked Questions

How much funding is available under the AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants?

Each selected organisation will receive €31,500 to implement its proposed entrepreneurship advocacy project.

What is the main purpose of the grant?

The grant supports advocacy projects that address systemic barriers facing young entrepreneurs and promote policies and practices that create a more enabling environment for youth enterprise.

Can the grant be used to directly finance young people’s businesses?

The programme is focused on advocacy for systemic change, rather than providing direct business financing to individual entrepreneurs. Proposals should therefore explain how activities will influence policies, practices, systems, or institutions.

Which organisations can apply?

Youth-led non-profit organisations including Trusts, CBOs, NGOs/CSOs, and Cooperatives can apply if they meet the programme’s eligibility requirements.

Which countries are eligible?

Eligible organisations must be registered and operating in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia (Somaliland region), Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, or Zimbabwe.

What does youth-led mean for this programme?

The organisation’s governance and project implementation teams must be composed primarily of young people aged 18–35.

How long must an organisation have been operating?

The organisation must have been formally registered and operating for at least 12 months.

Conclusion

The AU-EU Youth Lab Entrepreneurship Grants provide €31,500 to youth-led African non-profit organisations seeking to improve the environment for young entrepreneurs through advocacy and systemic change. The strongest applications will clearly identify a structural barrier, propose a practical advocacy strategy, demonstrate meaningful youth leadership, and show how the project can influence policies or practices that enable young people to start and grow sustainable businesses.