Cairo-based social enterprise EYouth, has raised $180,000 in seed funding from EdVentures, the venture capital arm of Egypt’s Nahdet Misr Publishing House.

EYouth, founded in 2010 by Alaa Obeida and Mostafa Abdellatif, aims to empower by offering a wide range of specialised training programmes in several areas including entrepreneurship, employability and personal skills enhancement, and community development.

It also provides entrepreneurs with mentorship services and helps them scale up by connecting them to potential investors. 

“In light of the fierce competition in the labor market, therein lies a great demand for investing in training and developing skills and capabilities of young entrepreneurs located in various governorates and even extend this to other Arab and African countries," said Alaa Obeida, co-founder and innovation director at EYouth.

Since its founding, the company has trained more than 65,000 entrepreneurs in 27 cities across Egypt and has helped launch more than 1500 social enterprises and initiatives.

The company plans to use the funds to build an online platform, grow its services and further expand to other African markets.

“EdVentures focuses on empowering youth through education, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship; thus, we see our investment in EYouth as key in extending our support to a wider base of young entrepreneurs especially those located in upper Egypt with very limited resources," said Dalia Ibrahim, founder of EdVentures and CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House.

Launched in 2017,  EdVentures focuses on seed and pre-series A investments. The corporate VC supports startups operating in education, culture, and innovative learning solutions in Egypt, Africa, and the Arab World.