Youth Economic Opportunity Ecosystem Analysis: Tanzania Country Report

This report is the key output of an assessment implemented in Tanzania, as part of YouthStart Global inception phase. The report aims to capture a picture of the youth economic opportunities ecosystem in Tanzania by:

• Providing an overview of the employment challenge and demand for financial services:
• Presenting a comprehensive analysis of the demand for and the supply of labor;
• Identifying high-potential opportunities for youth.

It also provides an overview and mapping of the current youth intervention landscape and the supply of financial services, as well as an assessment of key gaps for each of the high-potential opportunities for youth. The key findings presented in the report are:

1. The Tanzanian labor market is extremely demand constrained, which means that entrepreneurship and self-employment needs to be a viable option for youth;
2. Access to finance is a constraint to growing youth enterprises. Although financial services providers recognize that youth are an important segment to serve, there are some regulatory and practical challenges to doing so;
3. Four sectors appeared to offer the most promising economic opportunities for youth employment and entrepreneurship, such as agriculture, tourism, building and construction, and information and communications technology (ICT);
4. There are a number of effective programs focused on expanding youth economic opportunities in Tanzania; however, they need to scale up and partner to achieve widespread impact.