Ongoing project

Women's Economic Empowerment

Women run many of the small businesses in Somaliland, but few get the training, childcare, space and support they need to grow. YEEL works with women who already trade and with single mothers who want to start.

A trainer teaching a class of women in Burao

The goal

Women who earn a stable income from their own business, with the skills and support to keep it growing.

Business training for single mothers

A woman speaking in a business class in Hargeisa

Hargeisa and Burao, 2026–2027

With SKT Welfare and Rida Agency Foundation, YEEL trains single mothers to start and run their own business. The course ran from April to August 2026, three days a week, and ended with each woman pitching her business plan.

After graduation every woman gets mental health sessions and a personal mentor, and a business mentor visits her business every week until March 2027.

27women trained
2cities

Women Entrepreneurs Burao

A mother taking notes in class with her daughter on her lap

A pilot with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency

From January to June 2026, 25 women who already ran small businesses in Burao took part in a pilot funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).

We opened a Women's Business Development Hub in Burao with shared workspace and childcare. The women trained three times a week for three months in pricing, stock, record-keeping, saving and growth, and formed peer and savings groups.

25women
3months of training

  • Women working in pairs during a class in Burao

    Practical training

    Pricing, stock, records and saving, taught with the women's own businesses as examples.

  • Children playing in the childcare room while their mothers train

    Childcare

    Children are looked after next door, so their mothers can learn.

  • A trainer at the whiteboard in Hargeisa

    Mentoring

    A personal mentor and visits to each business after the course.

  • Two women discussing in class

    Peer and savings groups

    The women support each other and save together.

A woman in her shop at the Burao marketA woman arranging bags in her shopA woman weighing produce at her stallA business owner in her furniture shopA participant listening in class in HargeisaA vegetable seller at her stallA woman asking a question in classA participant writing in her notebook

Partners
SKT Welfare, Rida Agency Foundation and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)
Where
Hargeisa and Burao, Somaliland
Who
Single mothers and women who run small businesses
Status
Mentoring and business visits until March 2027