[email protected] +256 743 431 576 Kampala, Uganda

Closing the financial exclusion gap for Uganda’s youth

33.5 million young Ugandans. Too many are left out.

Too many lack financial education and are shut out of the financial system. The Youth Network closes that gap: organised chapters, practical money skills and savings kept in each chapter’s own bank account.

Partner with us

Source: UBOS, National Population and Housing Census 2024: 33,519,852 of 45,905,417 Ugandans are aged 30 and below

Uganda’s youth in figures

A young nation, left out.

33.5 million
young Ugandans: 73% of the whole population
50.9%
of youth are not in work, school or training
737,081
young people are unemployed and looking for work
19%
of Ugandans are completely outside the financial system

Sources: UBOS, National Population and Housing Census 2024 · FinScope Uganda 2023 survey

Our response so far

—
members and counting: our goal is 1,000 before 2027
—
chapters at universities and in communities
100%
of savings stay in each chapter’s own bank account

Who we are

We close the gap, one chapter at a time.

The Youth Network (Uganda Youth Financial Literacy Network) is a youth-led movement founded in December 2025 by young people who were turned away by banks and youth programmes. So we got organised. Today we tackle financial exclusion among young Ugandans: we organise them into chapters, teach practical money skills and help them into the financial system.

We organise

We help youth groups get better organised, and bring young people who are not in any group together into new ones, in universities and communities.

We teach

Financial education through practical money skills: budgeting, saving, avoiding money traps and keeping records. Learning by doing, not theory.

We include

Financial inclusion: each group saves in its own bank account and builds records that banks, youth programmes and partners can trust.

Partner with us

Why we organise

Alone, a young saver is invisible. Together, they are seen.

Alone

1 young personsaving, learning and applying alone

Invisible to banks and programmes

Together

100 membersin one chapter, meeting, saving and keeping records together

Visible to banks, youth programmes and partners

Youth programmes back groups: the Youth Livelihood Programme supports Youth Interest Groups of 10–15 members, not individuals. Source: Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, YLP

The challenge

A young country, with too many young people left out.

4 million
young Ugandans aged 15–24 are not working and not in school or training.
UBOS, National Population and Housing Census 2024, final report
48.8%
of unemployed youth have been looking for work for over a year.
UBOS, National Population and Housing Census 2024, final report
27%
of children aged 14–17 are already out of school and not working.
UBOS, National Population and Housing Census 2024, final report

The readiness gap

Uganda already invests in its youth, through the Youth Livelihood Programme, Emyooga, the Parish Development Model and the youth products of commercial banks. Yet young people often reach these doors:

  • UnorganisedNo group, no structure, no shared accountability.
  • Without financial knowledgeBudgeting, saving and credit are rarely taught in school.
  • Without a recordNo savings history or documents a programme or bank can trust.

Our answer

Organisation is the multiplier. Financial literacy is the fuel.

Our mission: to empower Ugandan youth through practical financial literacy education, structured peer learning and organised group development, as savers, entrepreneurs and informed citizens.

  1. 1

    Join

    Form or join a chapter at your university or in your community, register it with The Youth Network and receive a verified Member ID.

  2. 2

    Learn

    Practical money skills across three levels: Foundation, Wealth Intelligence and Digital Entrepreneur.

  3. 3

    Work together in groups

    Members work as a chapter: they meet regularly, save in the chapter’s own bank account and decide together how to use their savings.

  4. 4

    Become visible

    Organised, well-documented youth become visible to youth programmes, banks and partners, with support to apply for opportunities open only to groups.

  5. 5

    Build

    Members grow their enterprises and keep learning, with follow-up that tracks real outcomes.

Who we serve

Young Ugandans, in school and out of it.

Students

University, tertiary and TVET students, organised through university chapters, building money habits before they graduate.

Out-of-school youth

Working, self-employed, vocational and unemployed youth, organised through community chapters by district.

We aim for at least 50% female participation in every cohort.

What we measure

Clear targets, reported in public.

These are our Year 1 → Year 2 targets, not results yet. We publish an Outcome & Learning Report every year.

60% → 75%of members certified at Level 1
40% → 60%of members with a documented six-month savings record
5 → 25groups supported to apply to youth programmes
50%+female participation

Leadership

Founded by young Ugandans, for young Ugandans.

Atukwase Emmanuel, Founder of The Youth Network

Atukwase Emmanuel

Founder

Atukwase Emmanuel founded The Youth Network in December 2025 to organise young Ugandans into chapters that learn money skills, save together and become visible to the youth programmes, banks and partners that support organised groups.

Our co-founders will be introduced here soon.

Partner with us

Help us turn youth into Uganda’s advantage.

We work alongside the programmes and institutions that already serve young people. We prepare the youth; you reach them ready.

Government programmes

YLP · Emyooga · Parish Development Model

  • Groups that arrive organised, trained and documented
  • A six-month quality filter before any application
  • Follow-up evidence after support is received
  • We never handle programme funds

Banks & financial institutions

Youth accounts · group lending

  • Chapter group accounts and members with verified IDs and savings records
  • Members certified in practical financial literacy
  • Co-branded money sessions on campus and in communities
  • Mentors for each chapter

Development partners & funders

Programmes · grants · technical support

  • Ready implementation capacity through chapters
  • A tested curriculum and member platform
  • Monitoring & evaluation built in from day one
  • Public reporting on outcomes

Universities & TVET

Student chapters

  • A student chapter teaching practical money skills
  • Guild recognition and a signed chapter agreement
  • Students who graduate with a savings record
  • Events and peer learning on campus

Start a conversation

Tell us about your organisation and we’ll share our concept note.

WhatsApp the team Email [email protected]

Partners & supporters

Building Uganda’s youth readiness, together.

Your organisation
Your organisation
Your organisation
Your organisation

Partner logos appear here once agreements are signed.

How we stay accountable

Built to be trusted with young people’s futures.

  • Not a bank or SACCOWe are not a bank, microfinance institution, SACCO or deposit-taking institution.
  • Chapters keep their own moneySavings sit in each chapter’s own bank account, and its members decide together how to use them. We never hold, manage or decide over chapter or member funds.
  • No programme funds pass through usWe support youth to apply; programmes and banks decide and disburse directly.
  • Data protectedPersonal data is handled under Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019. Partners receive anonymised figures.
Where we are

Across Uganda. From Kampala to Kabale.

Our members are already in Kampala, Mbarara, Bushenyi, Kabale and beyond, and we’re growing into campuses and communities in every region.

Kampala metroMembers and chapters forming
Members herePlanned next
Lake Victoria
Questions

Straight answers before you join.

Something not covered here? Message the team on WhatsApp.

About us

Nobody would fund us. So we got organised.

How a small youth group that banks and programmes turned away became a network of chapters from Kampala to Kabale, and why every young Ugandan needs the same leverage.

Youth is an advantage, only if utilised.

Uganda’s youth are ready to learn. Help them get ready to grow.

Partner with us

The Youth Network provides financial education, structure and support to apply. It does not hold deposits or chapter funds, decide how chapters use their savings, or guarantee loans, grants, returns or access to any external programme.

About us

Nobody would fund us. So we got organised.

The Youth Network (Uganda Youth Financial Literacy Network) organises young Ugandans into chapters at their universities and in their communities. We teach practical money skills, and we connect well-organised, well-documented chapters to mentors, banks, youth programmes and partners.

Scroll the story

By The Youth Network, Uganda Youth Financial Literacy Network · October 2026

01 · Where we started

We were the group nobody trusted

  1. Turned away

    We started as a small youth group. We were financially excluded, unorganised and undocumented, with no mentors and little financial discipline. Banks could not trust us. Government youth programmes were just as closed.

  2. The meeting

    We sat down and asked a hard question: why are we being rejected, and what would it take to be accepted?

  3. The realisation

    It was not only us. Thousands of youth groups across Uganda are exactly like ours: full of energy and ideas, and invisible to the institutions that could help them.

  4. The Youth Network

    The opportunities were already there, waiting for groups with every box ticked. So we decided to become that group, and to help every other group become one too. Our founding cohort started in December 2025, led by our Founder, Atukwase Emmanuel. Today we have members from Kampala to Mbarara, Bushenyi and Kabale.

What banks and youth programmes look for

  • Organised
  • Trained
  • Disciplined
  • Documented
Youth is an advantage, only if utilised.

02 · The numbers

The numbers behind the rejection

33.5 millionUgandans are aged 30 and below
700,000young Ugandans look for work every year
≈90,000formal jobs open up for them
1 in 8lands a formal job. The other 7 find their own way.

The 2024 national census found that 33,519,852 Ugandans, 73% of the population, are aged 30 and below. Young people are the country’s greatest asset.

But the jobs have not kept up. About 700,000 young Ugandans reach working age every year, and estimates put the number of new graduates at a similar figure. Only about 90,000 find formal jobs: roughly one in eight (12.9%), which leaves about 87% outside the formal job market every year. A Mastercard Foundation study reached almost the same figure, 12.86% of graduates. Counting every kind of work, the World Bank estimates the economy finds work for just over 200,000 new entrants a year, about one in three.

  • Most go informal. About nine in ten employed young Ugandans work informally: micro-enterprises, small shops, casual labour and subsistence farming. Low pay, rarely a contract, no social security.
  • Many find nothing. Youth unemployment stood at 16.1% in 2024, about one young person in six with no work at all.

03 · Where the money goes

Small money, spent on things that disappear

When money is scarce, every shilling matters. Yet much of what young people do earn leaks away on things that are gone by Monday:

71%of young Ugandans in a 2024 mobile survey said they had placed a bet
2×Uganda drinks about 12.2 litres of pure alcohol per person a year, about twice the African average
31%of youth aged 12 to 24 drank alcohol in the past year
14%of Ugandans save for emergencies; only 60% save at all

Add the everyday leaks: data and airtime beyond what we need, takeaways, outings, and clothes bought to keep up. None of it is wrong on its own. Together, it is the difference between spending and owning.

Spend it, or own it?

The question is not how much you earn. It is whether your money buys things that lose value, or things that can grow in value or earn. Tap a card to flip it.

Examples to learn from, not financial advice. The value of any asset can fall as well as rise.

04 · Why groups win

Businesses built to survive, not to grow

Faced with few jobs, many young Ugandans do what makes sense: they start something. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research has found that about one in ten Ugandans starts a business each year. Most of these businesses are started out of necessity rather than opportunity. They are small, informal and run day to day, set up to put food on the table this week rather than to grow, hire and last.

Many close. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research found that about one in five Ugandans has already closed a business. Business-sector estimates quoted in 2026 put first-year failure as high as two in three new businesses, and up to 80% within three years. Whatever the exact figure, the pattern is clear: too many young people pour their savings and energy into ventures that were never set up to survive.

The reasons are familiar. No records. No separation between business money and household money. No savings buffer. No mentor. And, crucially, no group to lean on, because a single young trader with a small kiosk is invisible to the banks and programmes that could help them grow.

Opportunity in Uganda goes to groups

Uganda does not lack support for young people. The Youth Livelihood Programme was built around Youth Interest Groups of 10 to 15 members. Emyooga channels support through SACCOs and associations with millions of registered members. The Parish Development Model works through parish SACCOs. Banks offer youth and group products.

In almost every case, the door opens for organised, documented groups, not individuals. Where groups were formed in a hurry, without training, discipline or records, results have suffered: the Youth Livelihood Programme, for example, had recovered only about half of what was due by 2021. Forming a group is only the first step. The group has to be ready.

One young personsaving UGX 50,000 a month: invisible
A hundred, in one chaptermeeting, saving and keeping clean records: a bank, a programme or a partner can see them

05 · Our answer

Leverage: making a small effort count for more

Young people do not need to be convinced to work hard. They need leverage. We help members use five kinds:

01Time

Starting young means every good habit, from saving to learning a skill, has decades to grow.

02Numbers

One young person is invisible. Hundreds, organised in chapters, are impossible to ignore.

03Backing

Government youth programmes and banks already exist for groups that are ready. We help chapters get ready.

04Mentorship

Bank managers, business people and professionals who share what school never taught.

05Connections

Jobs, partners and opportunities that come through a network, not through a CV alone.

How The Youth Network works

  1. Organise

    Young people form chapters at their universities and in their communities. The chapter meets, works and decides together.

  2. Teach

    Practical money skills, step by step: budgeting, saving, credit, record-keeping and enterprise.

  3. Build records

    Every chapter saves in its own bank account and keeps the records banks and programmes ask for. We never hold members’ money.

  4. Connect

    Ready chapters are linked to mentors, banks, youth programmes and partners, with help to apply.

  5. Own

    Members move from spending to owning: savings, skills and assets that can grow.

Our mission

To make young Ugandans financially literate, organised and application-ready, so that knowledge becomes disciplined action and greater economic participation.

Our vision

A generation of youth with the confidence, records and support networks to make informed financial decisions, own assets and build sustainable livelihoods.

An invitation

To government programmes, banks, development partners, universities and employers: Uganda’s young people are ready to work. They need to be organised, equipped and made visible. We would like to do that work with you.

To young Ugandans: you are not too small to be seen. Together, you are not small at all.

Partner with us

WhatsApp +256 743 431 576

Sources
  • Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), National Population and Housing Census 2024, Final Report, Volume I (Dec 2024): total population 45,905,417; children 0–17: 22,750,701; youth 18–30: 10,769,151 (UBOS International Youth Day 2025). Shares calculated from these totals.
  • National Planning Authority and World Bank (Nov 2025), as reported by Ecofin Agency (9 Jul 2026): about 700,000 Ugandans reach working age each year; the economy finds work for just over 200,000 of them.
  • Daily Monitor, 1 May 2025, “Concern as skills mismatch worsens Uganda’s job crisis”: an estimated 700,000 graduates a year, about 90,000 finding formal jobs; Mastercard Foundation study: 12.86% of graduates secure formal employment. One in eight and 87% calculated from 90,000 of 700,000.
  • The Independent (Kampala), 6 Mar 2026, via AllAfrica: youth unemployment 16.1% in 2024 (ESSR 2025); about 90% of employed youth work in the informal sector.
  • GeoPoll, Betting in Africa 2024 (rapid mobile survey, March 2024, 3,070 respondents in six countries, skewed towards young urban users): 71.43% of Ugandan respondents had placed bets. Not a national prevalence rate.
  • Daily Monitor, 14 Aug 2026, “Uganda’s alcohol crisis”: about 12.21 litres of pure alcohol per person per year (WHO alcohol status reports 2020 and 2023) against an African average of about 6.4 litres; 31% of youth aged 12–24 drank in the past 12 months (Alcohol Policy Alliance baseline report, 2026). “About twice” calculated from 12.21 ÷ 6.4.
  • FSD Uganda / Bank of Uganda, FinScope Uganda 2023: 81% of Ugandans financially included; 60% save; 14% save for emergencies.
  • Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Uganda (2015), via Daily Monitor: about 10% of Ugandans start a business each year; about one in five had discontinued a business.
  • Daily Monitor, 12 Sep 2026, “Govt warns poor business advice hurting Ugandan enterprises”: estimates of 66% failing in the first year, up to 80% within three years (records cited at a stakeholders’ meeting; not a published study).
  • Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Youth Livelihood Programme: Youth Interest Groups of 10–15 members.
  • CMI (2023), on YLP: UGX 39.1bn recovered of UGX 75.2bn due by 2021.
Curriculum
Financial Literacy Courses

Coming soon. Our practical money courses are being prepared. Members will take them in their chapters, led by trained facilitators.

Resources
Tools & downloads

Templates, guides and checklists to support your financial-learning and application-readiness journey. Sign in for the full library.

Secure member access

Every member, every shilling, accounted for.

One secure workspace for members, chapter leadership, the records office and finance. Your dashboard is built around your role.

—Registered members
—Active chapters
© 2026 The Youth Network · Kampala, Uganda · Authorised access only · All activity is audit-logged.
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