Perspective: How young entrepreneurs are reshaping resilience in the Central Sahel
Sahelian youth transform climate and security crises into green jobs and resilient entrepreneurship.
In the Sahel, climate shocks, insecurity, and economic fragility are reshaping livelihoods and threatening social stability. Nearly four million people have been displaced in the Central Sahel due to violence, insecurity, and environmental pressures—an increase of two-thirds over the past five years. At the same time, youth unemployment remains alarmingly high, reaching more than 40% in parts of Mali.
In a region where more than 45% of the population is under 25, long-term stability depends on whether young people can access viable economic pathways. Without opportunity, displacement pressures, migration, and recruitment into armed groups intensify. With opportunity, local economies anchor communities rather than fragment them.
This reality framed the webinar “Entrepreneurship done differently in Mali–How are young entrepreneurs turning crises into opportunities?”, organised by SNV and E4Impact Francophone Africa Foundation in January 2026. The conversation revealed entrepreneurship not merely as an economic pursuit, but as a strategic lever for resilience, stability, and long-term opportunity.
A demographic imperative in a fragile environment
The Sahel’s crisis is multidimensional: climate change, land degradation, insecurity, and weak formal labour markets intersect. Across sub-Saharan Africa, nearly one in four young people are NEET—not in employment, education, or training. In rural Mali, high youth unemployment compounds food insecurity and undermines social cohesion.
Yet crisis conditions also catalyse adaptation. Climate stress is accelerating innovation in renewable energy, circular economy models, climate-smart agriculture, and local agri-processing. Young entrepreneurs are leveraging digital tools, community networks, and indigenous knowledge to build enterprises embedded in local value chains.
However, entrepreneurship in fragile settings faces systemic constraints. Access to finance remains limited, particularly for rural youth and women. Infrastructure gaps—roads, electricity, cold storage, connectivity—raise costs and restrict market expansion. Regulatory processes can discourage formalisation, while insecurity disrupts supply chains and deters long-term investment.
Without addressing these structural barriers, entrepreneurial potential cannot fully translate into sustainable economic transformation.
Crises are not inevitabilities, but catalysts for agile, inclusive and community-based entrepreneurship."
Youssouf Koumaré
Entrepreneurship as local economic anchoring
Entrepreneurship in contexts of instability often becomes a collective effort rooted in community resilience. Businesses are closely tied to community well-being, and success is measured not only in profit, but also in stability, social cohesion, and sustained livelihoods, value retention, and reduced vulnerability to shocks. Young entrepreneurs frequently act as problem-solvers, creating economic opportunities that reduce vulnerability to migration, recruitment into armed groups, or long-term reliance on humanitarian assistance.
The GoGreen Mali project, funded by the Dutch Embassy, illustrates this approach. By equipping young people with green skills—from composting and solar energy to biofuels, reforestation, and biogas—the initiative has supported youth-led enterprises in Bamako, Ségou, Sikasso, and Mopti. Beyond technical training, it has fostered peer networks and local market linkages—critical components for enterprise durability in fragile markets.
Similarly, the Peaceful Pastoral Cross-Border Mobility and Social Stability in the Sahel (MOPSS) programme strengthens pastoral value chains and integrates youth entrepreneurs into agropastoral markets. By improving cross-border mobility governance and economic participation, MOPSS demonstrates how economic inclusion contributes to conflict mitigation and regional stability.
The experience of Amadou Guindo, founder of Sigui Tolo Industries and an E4Impact MBA and GoGreen alumnus, illustrates both the risks and resolve required in this context. His company processes locally sourced crops—including moringa, balanites, baobab, sesame, castor, and marula—into vegetable oils for food, cosmetics and therapeutic applications.
Operating in a region affected by insecurity carries real consequences. After losing three colleagues to violent attacks, he chose to continue operating and supporting local suppliers rather than withdraw from the market.
His experience reflects a broader reality: in fragile environments, entrepreneurs often sustain economic activity under difficult conditions. By maintaining procurement relationships and local processing, they help preserve livelihoods and keep supply chains functioning where formal systems are disrupted.
When local enterprises remain operational, supply chains are less likely to collapse entirely. While this does not eliminate insecurity, it can reduce economic shocks that contribute to instability and displacement, and create space for longer-term recovery.
Lessons for building sustainable opportunity
Three lessons emerge from these entrepreneurs' testimonials:
First, access to skills, information, and finance remains fundamental. Training programmes, mentorship, and business support services significantly expand opportunities for young people. Partnerships such as SNV’s collaboration with the University of Ségou—which developed environmental and social impact assessment tools for entrepreneurs—show how practical support can improve sustainability outcomes. But without access to affordable capital and viable markets, enterprises stagnate. Blended finance mechanisms, risk-sharing instruments, and long-term business development services are essential to move beyond subsistence entrepreneurship.
Second, resilience must be integrated into entrepreneurship support. In fragile contexts, businesses must be designed to withstand climate, market, and security shocks. This requires flexible financing, locally grounded value chains, and stronger collaboration between public and private actors, with clear pathways for scaling viable enterprises beyond the micro level.
Third, youth entrepreneurship should be recognised as a peacebuilding investment. Economic opportunity reduces vulnerability, strengthens dignity, and reinforces social cohesion. Supporting young entrepreneurs is not only a development priority—it is part of a broader peace and governance strategy.
For this framing to influence policy, stronger measurement is needed. Tracking enterprise survival rates, job creation outcomes, income growth, and local value retention would sharpen evidence of impact. Combining qualitative narratives with quantitative indicators would strengthen accountability and guide more effective investment.
Ultimately, stability in the Sahel depends on economic opportunity for young people.”
Tchegoun Adebo Koba
An urgent investment priority
Humanitarian and security responses remain essential in the Sahel. But without parallel investment in economic opportunity for young people, underlying drivers of fragility will persist.
Scaling youth-led green enterprises, strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems, improving regulatory environments, and expanding access to finance are foundational to long-term stability.
The Sahel’s future stability will depend not only on managing crises, but on building local economies strong enough to reduce the conditions that produce them. Youth entrepreneurship—when supported by enabling systems and sustained investment—can play a central role in that transformation.
Authors: Tchegoun Adebo Koba (Global Technical Advisor, Youth Employment & Entrepreneurship at SNV) and Youssouf Koumaré (Value Chain Expert and E4Impact Mali MBA/Non-MBA Trainer)