The partnership seeks to identify opportunities to use innovative finance to guide more underserved young people into work that brings self-sufficiency, dignity, and purpose
NEW YORK, April 10, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- SecondMuse Capital, a sister company of innovation firm SecondMuse, today announced the findings of the World YMCA Learning to Earning (L2E) Future Economy LabTM (FEL) in partnership with Generation Unlimited (Genu). The FEL focused on identifying high-potential innovative finance mechanisms to support youth around the world who are not in employment, education, and training (NEET). The report details the role of innovative finance in improving employment outcomes for underserved youth (ages 15-24). Building on the insights emerging from this work, in 2025 efforts will continue to explore ways to collaborate with investors to bring impact finance to its programs and young people for accelerated youth employment outcomes. This work will focus on three high priority geographies: India, South Africa, and Spain.
The FEL involved collaborative workshops with YMCAs and Genu sites across 12 countries coupled with research, and interviews with investors and impact finance thought leaders exploring how to use innovative finance to bring more underserved young people into meaningful work. The innovative finance opportunities aim to tackle barriers to youth employment identified by YMCA that include fragmented service delivery, an overreliance on short term siloed grant funding, a lack of quality jobs, a mismatch of skills and jobs, and lack of employer engagement in training pathways. These system barriers create both a youth employment crisis (globally, one in five young people are NEET) and a skills shortage crisis (87% of employers currently or expect to face a skills gap in the near future).
"We've seen firsthand how the current youth employment system isn't working—especially for young people from underserved communities," said Natalia Arjomand, Senior Director at SecondMuse Capital. "There's so much talent and potential out there that's being overlooked. Through the lens of innovative finance, we're working to build the kinds of systems that help young people contribute meaningfully to their economies and communities."
The L2E FEL identified six high potential innovative, high-potential financial mechanisms:
- A Youth Employment Impact Bond: Pay-for-success financing where investors are repaid based on job placement and retention outcomes.
- Green Jobs Outcome Fund: A portfolio-based investment mechanism aimed at addressing the green skills gap.
- Impact Linked Business Loan Fund: A mechanism to provide flexible financing to youth-led or youth-employing businesses with interest rates tied to achieving predefined social and environmental outcomes.
- Green Employment Income Share Agreement: A mechanism to enable young people to access vocational training in high-growth green sectors and raise funds from investors for skilling programs. Investors would be repaid through the future income of trainees once they secure green jobs.
- Youth Aspirational Skill Loan Fund & TA Facility: A blended finance platform providing affordable, low-interest loans to low-income youth that are backed by guarantees from philanthropic foundations, development finance institutions and government entities.
- YMCA Social Purpose Real Estate Fund: A potential mechanism using impact finance to develop YMCA-owned properties to create community-driven social enterprises, such as vocational training centers, co-working spaces for young entrepreneurs, and affordable housing for young workers.
"We are at a tipping point in the youth employment system: it is failing the needs of young learners and employers," said Caroline Chernov, Lead, Global Impact Investing at World YMCA. "That is why YMCA has partnered with SecondMuse Capital to launch the FEL on L2E to bring new forms of sustainable finance into our efforts to guide more underserved young people beyond skills training and into meaningful work in labor markets worldwide. We will continue to explore opportunities to bring these types of mechanisms into our Learning to Earning efforts."
The Future Economy Lab (FEL) was launched in 2020 to innovate the way we finance the development of economies — and to pioneer new ways of growing inclusive and resilient economies. It recognizes the imperative to design with communities rather than only for them to ensure equitable outcomes. We believe that these outcomes can generate higher returns for both communities and investors. Across all iterations of the FEL, six financial mechanisms have been designed to mobilize over $200 million in target AUM. Labs have focused on new financial mechanisms for areas such as circularity, climate technology, education, health and well-being, real estate, and more.
To learn more about The Learning to Earning Future Economy Lab and to read the Summary of Findings, visit: https://bit.ly/3RcQsBQ
ABOUT SECONDMUSE CAPITAL
SecondMuse Capital was founded to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the capital solutions they need to grow and scale. After more than a decade of supporting businesses, we saw firsthand how traditional financial products often fail to meet their needs. Since 2020, we have been dedicated to designing innovative financial solutions through our Future Economy Lab, working closely with both investors and entrepreneurs to drive sustainable economic growth. This work has led to the launch of the Future Economy Fund, which connects impactful businesses with the right capital at the right time, fueling the future economy. Learn more: secondmusecapital.com
ABOUT YMCA
The YMCA worldwide empowers young people and communities to be and to lead the change they want to see. YMCA's vision is a world where every person lives in harmony with self, with society and creation. Its mission is to empower young people and communities worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive world, where every person can thrive in body, mind and spirit.
Founded in London in 1844, the YMCA has grown to reach over 65 million people a year across 120 countries, with nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches.
CONTACT
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Caroline Chernov, Lead, Global Impact Investing, World YMCA
[email protected].
+61 438389759
Media Contact
SecondMuse, SecondMuse, 1 6304500627, [email protected], 5W Public Relations
Caroline Chernov, World YMCA, 61 438389759, [email protected]
SOURCE SecondMuse
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