E!BA: A Pathway to Income for Youth Unable to Access School
Many young people who are unable to access school are eager to start businesses and generate income, but need the right skills, confidence, and support to succeed. This is where the Educate! Business Academy (E!BA) comes in.
E!BA is Educate!’s livelihood bootcamp in Uganda. It is designed to support youth — particularly young women and girls in rural communities — to build skills and agency, start businesses that respond to local market needs, and receive ongoing mentorship from trainers and peers.
The model is intentionally designed for youth facing significant economic barriers and limited access to stable income opportunities.
Meet Juliet
To better understand the youth we serve through E!BA, Educate! developed a composite persona named Juliet. Built through deep research, including interviews and fieldwork, Juliet personifies the struggles that often keep young people — especially young women — on the economic sidelines.
Juliet is a young mother living in a rural area. She left school at 15 due to financial hardship. She is single with two children and lives with her parents and siblings. She makes a modest living doing occasional digging work, earning 2000 UGX ($1 USD) a day. Without a phone of her own, any formal training, or a stable income, Juliet has struggled to launch a small business.
Educate! leverages this user persona to ground the experience in empathy, ensuring we can serve and retain youth throughout the experience and that they graduate with improved economic prospects. Juliet helps us see beyond the data and understand the day-to-day realities that shape a young person's choices.
A Hands-on Learning Experience
E!BA provides structured guidance and a hands-on learning experience to support young people like Juliet to build a sustainable livelihood for her family.
Families and communities are engaged through targeted recruitment that builds buy-in from key support systems, such as spouses. An experiential curriculum builds employability skills and a growth mindset, while live and virtual coaching support participants as they navigate starting and running businesses.
Evidence and feedback from implementation cycles are then systematically fed back into model design and delivery, ensuring it remains responsive to youth needs. E!BA is currently in the validation phase, with teams testing delivery approaches and refining the model based on evidence from the field.
👉🏿 Watch the introduction video to see how the Educate! Business Academy model works and how teams collaborate to deliver results for youth.