Youth Loans in Yemen

Adapted Product Series: Services that meet the needs of the Poor
Our Poverty-focused Microfinance Community of Practice (PovCoP) will be exploring adapted products over the coming months in a series of posts, group discussions, and interviews. Please join us in our quest to outline the adaptive practices and principles that are working well to support poor communities and provide measurable results. By looking at the abundance of resources made available by organizations throughout the industry, we will learn how to navigate the unique challenges that come with adapting products to specific segments. We’ll start with a few case studies and learn what made each project a success. Please help broaden our understanding by sharing your own experiences with the community as well. For more information on adapting microfinance products globally, take a look at CGAPs recently released Better Insights for Better Products.

Youth Loans in Yemen
Our first example of an adapted product was born out of a partnership between Silatech and Al-Amal Microfinance Bank in Yemen. This initiative to create a Youth Loan Fund for Yemeni youth saw quite positive outcomes and there is much that can be learned from this successful partnership venture. To begin, watch the video below.

Although the program began as a single initiative, the partnership between Silatech and Al-Amal still continues today. Silatech released a case study presenting some early outcomes, as did Al-Amal with this presentation. Al-Amal and the partnership have seen some recent press highlighting this successful Yemeni model, and the topic of Youth Loans in microfinance was addressed in 2013 in Understanding Youth and their Financial Needs, a study by the SEEP Network.

Is there a need for youth loans in your region?
If so, what has or would make them successful?
Is there a model that promotes investor confidence?
Are there other obstacles to providing youth loans in your area?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below

Have suggestions for this Adapted Products series? Send them to Leah Verghese at MeasureLearnChange[@]gmail.com

3 thoughts on “Youth Loans in Yemen”

[comment sent via email from:]
Gustavo Fernando Flores Agreda
Director Ejecutivo
FUNDACIÓN AGROCRECER
Asesores en Responsabilidad Social
GUAYAQUIL ECUADOR

Me gusta mucho el modelo y experiencias en crear alternativas para jóvenes emprendedores de negocios pequeños,
de acuerdo al medio y de las necesidades observadas en el vídeo, considero importante ir paralelamente capacitando a formadores de nuevas empresas, antes de hacer que las empresas crezcan, la mayoría de señoras jóvenes madres, solamente expresan sus deseos de ayudar a los gastos familiares con su nuevo negocio, lo importante ahora es que tienen otra actividad que les permite tener mayor ingreso y deben obligatoriamente considerar que esta ventaja les da una nueva capacidad, la del ahorro, es en este momento donde deben pensar en asociarse o formar grupos de apoyo comunitario para generar ideas de negocios nuevos administrados por jóvenes y buscar beneficios comunes como atención medica, (salud) escuelas (educación), casa (vivienda), alimentación (mercados) propias actividades de financiamiento y autogarantias (crédito y ahorro).

Esto en términos generales podríamos perfeccionarlo haciendo una visita de campo que permita conocer el entorno y las costumbres de estas poblaciones, considero que son modelos que se pueden aplicar en cualquier país, en sectores donde exista un elevado indice de pobreza.