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Executive Summary

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust at a Glance

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust is a Harare-based youth empowerment NGO built to move young Zimbabweans from unemployment into income, enterprise, and employability. We serve young people aged 16–35 in Harare, Chitungwiza, and Highfield through practical skills training, entrepreneurship incubation, mentorship circles, and job-readiness support that is designed for real market conditions, not theory.

We are structured as a registered Trust under Zimbabwean law and operate in USD for planning and reporting. Our model combines participant fees with grants and CSR contracts so that low-income youth can access the programme while the organisation remains commercially disciplined and fundable.

The market opportunity is immediate and large. Harare Province contains a deep pool of unemployed and under-employed youth, and our offer is targeted at the most underserved segment: school leavers, recent graduates, and informal traders who need a fast, affordable pathway to income.

At a glance

• Business name: Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust
• Base of operations: Harare city centre, with outreach in Chitungwiza and Highfield
• Core offer: Entrepreneurship & Employability Programme, mentorship, incubation, and finance facilitation
• Target market: Youth aged 16–35 in high-density and peri-urban communities
• Year 1 revenue: USD 96,000
• Year 3 revenue: USD 129,375
• Year 5 revenue: USD 150,379
• Break-even timing: Not reached within the 5-year projection

Our commercial logic is straightforward. We sell structured youth development cohorts at USD 60 per participant, then extend value through post-training support, donor-backed scholarships, and CSR-funded outcomes reporting. The result is a blended model that produces strong gross margin at 70.0%, even though the business remains loss-making during the projected five-year ramp-up.

That loss profile is real and material. Our Year 1 net income is USD -34,285, and the forecast does not reach break-even within five years, which means this is a mission-led growth model that depends on external funding support during scale-up. We are transparent about that because investors and finance partners need to see both the social demand and the funding discipline behind the model.

Why the Market Is Ready

Zimbabwe’s youth labour market is under severe pressure, especially in high-density suburbs where formal jobs are scarce and informal income is unstable. In our operating areas, many young people already have hustle energy, business ideas, or job ambitions, but they lack the training, mentorship, and networks needed to convert effort into sustainable income.

Our programme solves that gap directly. We work with youth who are ready for practical intervention and who need a short, structured pathway into earning, job search readiness, or micro-business growth.

What We Are Building

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust is not a single-course provider. We are building a youth economic inclusion platform with recurring cohorts, follow-up support, and partner-linked outcomes.

Our delivery is centred on:

• Business planning and entrepreneurship training
• Digital skills and online promotion
• Leadership, communication, and confidence building
• CV support, interview preparation, and job-readiness coaching
• Mentorship circles and post-training accountability
• Small grant readiness and loan facilitation support

This model is led by the founder and managing trustee, Employability Programme, who brings over eight years of youth and community development experience in Harare. Programmes are operationally directed by In Year, a development practitioner with a Master’s in Development Studies and 10 years’ experience managing youth programmes for international NGOs in Zimbabwe.

Our wider team strengthens the model with specialist capability. Blake Morgan, a qualified accountant with seven years in NGO finance and grant management, anchors financial control and compliance. Morgan Kim, with SME consulting experience and a track record of mentoring over 200 young entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, leads practical enterprise training. Reese Johansson, our part-time Digital Skills and Marketing Trainer, supports online business skills and digital acquisition.

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Our structure is intentionally lean and credible for funders.

• Clear governance through a Trust structure
• Experienced delivery and finance leadership
• Local operational base in Harare
• Community outreach in high-need suburbs
• Blended funding to widen access without weakening commercial discipline
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Financial Highlights

The financial model is built on a five-year projection with stable gross margin and expanding top-line revenue. Training fees contribute USD 28,800 in Year 1 and grow to USD 45,114 by Year 5. Grants and CSR contracts contribute USD 67,200 in Year 1 and grow to USD 105,266 by Year 5.

That gives us a projected revenue path of:

• Year 1: USD 96,000
• Year 2: USD 120,000
• Year 3: USD 129,375
• Year 4: USD 139,482
• Year 5: USD 150,379

Gross margin remains at 70.0% throughout the projection, which confirms that the service model is efficient at the delivery level. The pressure point is not gross profit, but the scale of operating costs relative to revenue in the early years.

Funding ask

We are seeking USD 20,000 in startup and launch funding, structured as USD 3,000 equity capital and USD 17,000 debt principal. The capital is required to complete setup in Harare, cover early working capital pressure, and keep programme delivery stable as we build a stronger donor and CSR base.

The business case is strongest for finance partners who want measurable youth impact in Zimbabwe and are comfortable backing a Trust that is still in its scale-up phase. Our model is transparent, demand-driven, and designed to turn local youth need into a repeatable service platform with long-term social value.

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Key financial reality

• Year 1 net income: USD -34,285
• Break-even revenue: USD 144,979 annually
• Break-even timing: Not reached within the 5-year projection
• Funding dependence: External capital remains necessary to protect delivery continuity
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Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust is built to serve a large and urgent market, deliver practical social outcomes, and maintain enough revenue discipline to remain investable. The opportunity is not speculative. It is anchored in a clear beneficiary need, a tested service format, named leadership, and a five-year financial model that shows both the upside and the support required to get there.

Company Description

Our Legal Identity and Operating Base

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust is a registered Trust established in Harare, Zimbabwe, to deliver practical youth empowerment services to young people who are locked out of work, finance, and structured mentorship. We operate from our main training centre in Harare city centre and extend outreach into Chitungwiza and Highfield, where demand for employability support and micro-enterprise development is strongest.

We use USD as our planning and reporting currency, which gives our pricing, donor reporting, and cost control a stable operating base. Our legal form as a Trust aligns with our social mission, allows us to pursue grants and corporate social responsibility partnerships, and supports long-term programme continuity for the communities we serve.

:::tip Geographic focus
Our delivery model is built for high-density urban and peri-urban communities in Harare Province.

• Primary hub: Harare city centre
• Outreach areas: Chitungwiza and Highfield
• Priority beneficiary profile: youth aged 16–35
• Core service areas: skills training, incubation, and employability support
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Why We Exist

Zimbabwe’s young people are facing a combination of unemployment, under-employment, weak business networks, and limited access to practical training that leads to income. In the communities we serve, many school leavers, graduates, and informal traders have ambition but no pathway to turn that ambition into a stable livelihood.

We created Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust to close that gap. Our work focuses on youth who are ready to learn, ready to earn, and ready to build something of their own, but who need structured support to move from idea to action.

Our mission is to equip young Zimbabweans with market-relevant skills, entrepreneurship capability, and employability support so that they can create income, start small businesses, and improve their long-term economic resilience. We do this through practical, community-based interventions rather than abstract classroom theory.

The People We Serve

Our beneficiaries are young men and women aged 16–35 in Harare and surrounding areas. Most are unemployed, casually employed, or trading in the informal sector with low and unstable incomes.

We focus on:

• Out-of-school youth looking for a first pathway into work
• Recent graduates who lack work experience and employer networks
• Informal traders who want to formalise and grow micro-businesses
• Young entrepreneurs who need mentorship, digital skills, and access to finance
• School leavers who require job-readiness support before entering the labour market

Many of these young people live on less than USD 200 per month and cannot afford expensive training or paid incubation programmes. Our model is designed to serve that reality with blended financing, modest participant contributions, and supported access for scholarship beneficiaries.

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Our pricing and delivery model is deliberately inclusive.

• Fee-paying participants help sustain delivery
• Scholarship-supported participants remain fully included
• Donor and CSR funding subsidises access for low-income youth
• No qualified young person is excluded because of inability to pay
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What We Do Day to Day

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust delivers structured youth development programmes that combine training, coaching, and post-training support. Our flagship offer is the 8-week Entrepreneurship & Employability Programme, supported by mentorship circles, small grants coordination, loan facilitation, and job-readiness services.

We help participants build practical competence in areas that directly affect earnings and employability, including:

• Business planning and enterprise setup
• Digital literacy and online business use
• Sales, customer service, and record keeping
• Personal branding and workplace readiness
• Leadership, communication, and confidence building
• Access to finance pathways through partner institutions

Our model is not limited to classroom instruction. We work with each cohort to improve decision-making, business discipline, and confidence, then keep graduates connected through mentorship and savings-oriented support after the formal training ends.

Our Registration and Governance Model

Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust is operating as a Trust under Zimbabwean law, with registration in progress through the Deeds Office. We are also registering with ZIMRA and the relevant PVO authorities to strengthen our compliance position, improve transparency, and qualify for grants, tax treatment, and institutional partnerships.

Governance is anchored by the founder and managing trustee, who brings over eight years of experience in youth and community development projects in Harare. The organisation is structured to ensure accountability in programme delivery, financial control, and donor stewardship.

The leadership team includes:

• Casey Brooks, our Programme Director, a development practitioner with a Master’s in Development Studies and 10 years’ experience managing youth programmes for international NGOs in Zimbabwe
• Blake Morgan, our Finance and Administration Manager, a qualified accountant with seven years in NGO finance and grant management
• Morgan Kim, our Lead Trainer, with a background in SME consulting and experience mentoring over 200 young entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe
• Reese Johansson, our part-time Digital Skills and Marketing Trainer, with five years’ experience in social media and online business

This combination gives us the programme design capacity, financial discipline, and training delivery depth required to serve young people effectively and report outcomes credibly to investors and donors.

Our Revenue Logic and Sustainability Approach

We run a blended-income model that combines participant fees, grants, and corporate CSR contracts. That structure allows us to keep programmes accessible while generating the income required to operate professionally and scale responsibly.

Our commercial logic is simple: fee income demonstrates demand and participant commitment, while grants and CSR funding subsidise access for low-income youth and support the broader social outcomes investors want to see. The current five-year forecast shows Year 1 revenue of USD 96,000, but it also shows that we remain loss-making in the early years, with Year 1 net income of USD -34,285 and break-even not reached within the 5-year projection.

That honesty matters to us. We are building an impact organisation with strong social demand and clear community value, but our current cost structure and funding mix mean that external capital is required to stabilise the model and deepen our donor and partner base.

Our Position in the Zimbabwe Youth Development Market

We are positioned between formal training providers and purely charity-driven youth projects. Compared with organisations such as Junior Achievement Zimbabwe and Empretec Zimbabwe, we focus more directly on low-income youth in high-density communities and on post-training support that keeps graduates connected to opportunity.

Our differentiation is rooted in execution:

• We target youth who are often missed by premium training providers
• We use blended access so fees do not become a barrier
• We combine hard skills with soft skills and employability coaching
• We support participants beyond graduation through mentorship and finance linkages
• We operate locally, with community trust and outreach in the places where young people actually live

That positioning makes Rising Futures Youth Empowerment Trust relevant to investors seeking measurable social impact in Zimbabwe’s urban youth segment.

Ownership and Stewardship

The organisation is founder-led and trustee-governed. The founder serves as managing trustee and is responsible for strategy, partnerships, programme direction, and institutional growth, while the named team supports delivery, finance, training, and digital outreach.

This structure gives us a lean decision-making model and clear accountability. It also ensures that programme quality, compliance, and financial stewardship remain tightly linked to our mission of youth empowerment in Harare and beyond.

🔒 Continues in the full version

The remaining 9 sections of this document cover:

• Products and Services
• Market Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• SWOT Analysis
• Marketing and Sales Strategy
• Management and Organization
• Operating Plan
• Financial Plan and Projections
• Funding Request

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