YSEP
Youth Skills &EntrepreneurshipProgram
Overview
The Youth Skills & Entrepreneurship Program (YSEP) is one of the Arullsamy Foundation’s most dynamic initiatives, created to equip young people from plantation and rural communities with the skills, mindset, and resources to build sustainable livelihoods.
Across Sri Lanka, thousands of talented youth remain unemployed or underemployed despite their potential. Many lack access to quality training, business knowledge, or financial support. YSEP changes that by turning unemployed youth into skilled professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.
Empowering Youth to Create Their Own Opportunities
Our Goal
To transform the next generation of Sri Lankan youth into independent, confident, and creative contributors to the economy by providing them with real-world skills, entrepreneurship training, and mentoring.
What We Do
YSEP bridges the gap between education and employment through practical, hands-on initiatives.
Vocational and entrepreneurship training
Conduct vocational and entrepreneurship training tailored to community needs.
Digital and soft-skills development
Offer digital and soft-skills development to enhance employability.
Mentorship and seed grants
Provide mentorship and seed grants for small business start-ups.
Job Opportunities
Facilitate linkages with employers, microfinance institutions, and vocational centres.
Peer networks and alumni clubs
Build peer networks and alumni clubs for ongoing collaboration and growth.
Lasting change
Each participant is guided from learning a skill to applying it meaningfully — whether by finding a job, launching a business, or leading a community enterprise.
Our Pilot Model
The pilot version of YSEP focuses on empowering 50–60 rural or plantation youth within a single training cycle.
With a total budget of ₨ 1 million, the Foundation delivers:
- Four intensive skill-development workshopsin digital literacy, communication, and entrepreneurship.
- Mentorship support and micro-grantsfor 5–10 promising start-up ideas.
- Job-readiness sessionsand networking with local industries.
- Monitoring and evaluationto track employment and enterprise outcomes.
This small-scale investment can transform dozens of lives — creating a visible, replicable model of empowerment through skills and entrepreneurship.
investing in hope, dignity, and self-reliance
Why It Matters
Youth unemployment is one of Sri Lanka’s most pressing challenges. In plantation and rural communities, the issue is magnified by limited access to training and finance.
YSEP gives young people a chance to take control of their future — not by waiting for opportunities, but by creating them.
Every trained youth becomes a ripple of progress: an income earner, a local employer, a role model. When donors support YSEP, they are not just funding training — they are investing in hope, dignity, and self-reliance.
How Donors Can Help
Corporate and institutional partners can adopt youth cohorts under their CSR Skills Development Portfolios, with recognition and regular impact updates.
Our Vision
The Arullsamy Foundation envisions a Sri Lanka where every young person has the tools and confidence to succeed — where education leads to employment, and ambition leads to enterprise.
Through YSEP, we are cultivating a generation of change-makers and job creators, proving that opportunity can grow even in the most remote corners of the island.
