Displaced by war, young Sudanese turn to entrepeneurship to survive

Displaced by war and shut out of formal jobs, young Sudanese are turning to art, small businesses, and entrepeneurship to rebuild their livelihoods.

Yousra Hussein has started an initiative called 'Golden Women' to encourage women to become entrepeneurs in Sudan [Fatima Edam/Al Jazeera]

Yousra Hussein’s career was on the rise. She had graduated with a degree in medical laboratory sciences from Nahda College in 2022, and then began developing a women’s empowerment initiative – Golden Women – in the western Sudanese city of Nyala, in the same year.

The initiative organised psychosocial support sessions and training workshops in marketing and entrepreneurship that helped more than 70 women. Yousra wanted to help young women like her seeking work, but often lacking the experience and practical skills needed to pursue available opportunities.

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Things were going well until Sudan’s civil war began in April 2023 , upending her life. By June, Yousra and her family fled Nyala to Sennar, a city in central Sudan that she had never visited.

“Before the war, I was ambitious and had many dreams,” Yousra told Al Jazeera. “I started from zero in Sennar, without work experience or connections.”

Unable to find work in a city that she was unfamiliar with, she began offering nail services from home, charging the equivalent of about $10 to $15, and saving what she could to help her family.

Then, fighting between the two belligerents in Sudan’s war – the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces – spread to Sennar in mid-2024 , forcing Yousra and her family to flee once again, this time to Kassala in eastern Sudan.

Once again, Yousra was starting from scratch, and Sudan’s economy was collapsing as a result of the war. With few jobs available, and the growing need Yousra saw for women to earn money to support their families, she has resurrected her Golden Women initiative.

But while she has been able to raise some income through the initiative, funding remains a major obstacle. Yousra said young Sudanese entrepreneurs have limited access to skills training and institutional support, as well as struggling with bank requirements for guarantees that many cannot provide. She also pointed to complex registration procedures and taxes as barriers to establishing and sustaining a business.

Yousra Ahmed’s ‘Golden Women’ initiative provides a platform for young Sudanese women to learn the skills they need to become entrepreneurs, as the country’s war cripples the economy [Fatima Edam/Al Jazeera]

War-driven jobs crisis

Yousra’s experiences reflect a wider collapse in jobs and livelihoods.

In a 2024 joint report by the United Nations Development Fund and the International Food Policy Research Institute, 31 percent of the 3,000 urban households surveyed had been displaced, while the share reporting no employment or income rose from 1.6 percent before the war to about 18 percent by the time of the survey. Full-time employment also fell by half.

The World Bank, meanwhile, estimates that even as the economy grew modestly last year, with the government attempting to stabilise the areas of Sudan under its control, the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty rose from 33 percent in 2022 to 59 percent in 2025.

For young people whose education and livelihoods have been disrupted, the shrinking labour market has pushed some towards entrepreneurship and informal work as they search for ways to support themselves and their families, but they may not have the skills or experience to go into business for themselves.

International and government-backed programmes have been initiated to help some Sudanese develop the skills that they’ll need to run businesses.

The International Labour Organization said in May that its i-UPSHIFT programme had reached 500 young people in Kassala, providing entrepreneurship training, mentorship, and business incubation. Thirty-eight youth-led teams – involving 160 participants, including 66 internally displaced people – went on to pitch business and social-enterprise ideas.

Sudan’s Ministry of Youth and Sports says it has also promoted vocational training and youth-led projects. Minister Ahmed Adam Ahmed told Al Jazeera that two youth conferences had been held in Atbara and Kassala in an attempt to understand the views and aspirations of young people, as part of an effort to equip young people with practical skills that could help them earn an income.

Ahmed explained that one of the first conference’s outcomes was a proposed industrial city in River Nile State intended to support youth-led enterprises.

“Projects were also directed towards implementation in states considered safe, with some already under way,” Ahmed said. “The second conference in Kassala focused on practical applications and innovation, particularly artificial intelligence and the use of agricultural waste.”

Turning art into a livelihood

The struggle to earn a living after displacement affects many Sudanese. Mahira, a 30-year-old visual artist who did not wish to give her full name, moved to Port Sudan after her home in Khartoum was damaged during the war.

She now paints decorative pieces and murals, earning about 1 million Sudanese pounds ($130 at parallel market exchange rates) to help support her husband and son, but has worked a variety of jobs since being displaced.

Before the war, she graduated with a degree in French and completed a diploma in fine arts, both from Sudan University of Science and Technology.

“Since the war began, my main concern has been finding any income , no matter how much, to meet my family’s daily needs, despite how difficult it has been to find opportunities and funding,” she told Al Jazeera.

Mahira initially took on several jobs in Port Sudan, including making soap, applying henna and makeup, and styling clothes. She then began working in home decoration after she volunteered to paint the walls of a woman’s house in the Salbouna neighbourhood.

“Everyone was surprised by my skills in decorating and beautifying homes,” she said. “After that, requests started coming from other residents in the neighbourhood asking me to paint and decorate their homes.”

She later turned to more of her artistic work, conducting workshops on concrete art – an art form that uses cement-based materials to create decorative and artistic pieces – and teaching traditional dance at shelters. She worked with nongovernmental organisations running psychosocial support and skills-training programmes for displaced people.

Mahira now hopes to stage an exhibition featuring paintings that challenge hate speech and promote peaceful coexistence, while also giving her a way to market her work and build a more sustainable income.

At the same time, the exhibition would cost at least 8 million Sudanese pounds ($1,000), but Mahira says she has no savings and earns only about 1 million pounds per month. And yet, Mahira is still optimistic that she can raise the funds, and believes in the benefits the exhibition will bring – not just to herself.

“We need to promote peace and peaceful coexistence in Sudan, because the war has affected society and fuelled hate speech based on ethnic and tribal identity,” she told Al Jazeera.

受战争影响而流离失所、无法获得正规工作的苏丹年轻人，正转向艺术、小企业和创业来重建生计。

尤斯拉·侯赛因发起了一项名为“黄金女性”的倡议，旨在鼓励苏丹女性成为企业家。[法蒂玛·埃达姆/半岛电视台]

尤斯拉·侯赛因的事业蒸蒸日上。她于 2022 年从纳赫达学院获得医学实验室科学学位，同年在苏丹西部城市尼亚拉开始筹建一项妇女赋权计划——“金色女性”。

该项目组织了心理社会支持小组和市场营销、创业培训工作坊，帮助了70多名女性。尤斯拉希望帮助像她一样正在寻找工作的年轻女性，她们往往缺乏经验和实践技能来把握现有的机会。

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一切原本都很顺利，直到2023年4月苏丹内战爆发，彻底改变了她的生活。到了6月，尤斯拉和家人逃离尼亚拉，前往苏丹中部城市森纳尔，那是她从未去过的地方。

“战前，我雄心勃勃，有很多梦想，”尤斯拉告诉半岛电视台。“我在森纳尔白手起家，没有任何工作经验或人脉。”

由于在一个陌生的城市找不到工作，她开始在家提供美甲服务，每次收费约 10 至 15 美元，并尽可能地省钱来帮助家人。

随后，苏丹战争中交战双方——苏丹武装部队和快速支援部队——之间的战斗在 2024 年年中蔓延到森纳尔，迫使尤斯拉和她的家人再次逃离，这次逃往苏丹东部的卡萨拉。

尤斯拉再次从零开始，而苏丹的经济也因战争而崩溃。由于就业机会寥寥无几，尤斯拉意识到女性越来越需要赚钱养家，于是她重新启动了“黄金女性”计划。

尽管她通过这项计划获得了一些收入，但资金仍然是一大障碍。尤斯拉表示，苏丹年轻企业家获得技能培训和机构支持的机会有限，而且许多人无法提供银行所需的担保，因此他们也难以满足这些要求。她还指出，繁琐的注册程序和税收也是创办和维持企业的障碍。

尤斯拉·艾哈迈德的“黄金女性”计划为苏丹年轻女性提供了一个平台，让她们学习成为企业家所需的技能，因为该国的战争已经严重削弱了经济。[法蒂玛·埃达姆/半岛电视台]

战争引发的就业危机

尤斯拉的遭遇反映了就业和生计方面更广泛的崩溃。

联合国开发基金和国际粮食政策研究所2024年的一份联合报告显示，在接受调查的3000户城市家庭中，31%的家庭流离失所；而报告没有工作或收入的家庭比例从战前的1.6%上升到调查时的约18%。全职就业人数也减少了一半。

与此同时，世界银行估计，尽管去年经济略有增长，政府也试图稳定其控制下的苏丹地区，但生活在极端贫困中的人口比例从 2022 年的 33% 上升到 2025 年的 59%。

对于教育和生计受到干扰的年轻人来说，劳动力市场的萎缩迫使一些人转向创业和非正规工作，以寻求养活自己和家人的方法，但他们可能缺乏自主创业的技能或经验。

国际组织和政府支持的项目已经启动，旨在帮助一些苏丹人培养经营企业所需的技能。

国际劳工组织五月份表示，其“i-UPSHIFT”项目已惠及卡萨拉的500名青年，为他们提供创业培训、导师指导和企业孵化服务。38支由青年领导的团队（共160名参与者，其中包括66名境内流离失所者）随后展示了他们的商业和社会企业理念。

苏丹青年和体育部表示，该部也一直在推广职业培训和青年主导的项目。部长艾哈迈德·亚当·艾哈迈德告诉半岛电视台，为了了解青年人的想法和愿望，并帮助他们掌握能够谋生的实用技能，该部在阿特巴拉和卡萨拉分别举办了两场青年会议。

艾哈迈德解释说，第一次会议的成果之一是在尼罗河州提议建设一座工业城市，旨在支持青年主导的企业。

艾哈迈德说：“这些项目也着重在被认为安全的州实施，其中一些项目已经开始实施。在卡萨拉举行的第二届会议重点关注实际应用和创新，特别是人工智能和农业废弃物的利用。”

将艺术转化为生计

流离失所后谋生的艰难困境影响着许多苏丹人。30岁的视觉艺术家玛希拉（Mahira，她不愿透露全名）在喀土穆的家在战争中被毁后，搬到了苏丹港。

她现在靠绘制装饰品和壁画为生，每月收入约 100 万苏丹镑（按平行市场汇率计算约为 130 美元），以帮助养活她的丈夫和儿子。但自从流离失所以来，她做过各种各样的工作。

战前，她毕业于苏丹科技大学，获得了法语学位和美术文凭。

“自战争开始以来，我最关心的是如何找到任何收入，无论多少，来满足家人的日常需求，尽管寻找机会和资金非常困难，”她告诉半岛电视台。

玛希拉最初在苏丹港做过几份工作，包括制作肥皂、画海娜纹身、化妆和服装造型。后来，她自愿为萨尔布纳社区一位妇女的房子粉刷墙壁，之后便开始从事家居装饰工作。

“大家都对我的家居装饰和美化技能感到惊讶，”她说。“之后，邻居们也开始请我帮他们粉刷和装饰房屋。”

后来，她将重心转向艺术创作，举办混凝土艺术工作坊——混凝土艺术是一种利用水泥基材料创作装饰性艺术品的艺术形式——并在收容所教授传统舞蹈。她还与非政府组织合作，为流离失所者提供心理社会支持和技能培训项目。

玛希拉现在希望举办一场展览，展出挑战仇恨言论、倡导和平共处的画作，同时也希望借此机会推销自己的作品，建立更可持续的收入来源。

与此同时，举办这场展览至少需要800万苏丹镑（约合1000美元），但玛希拉说她没有任何积蓄，每月收入只有大约100万苏丹镑。尽管如此，玛希拉仍然乐观地认为她能够筹集到资金，并且相信这场展览会带来诸多益处——不仅仅是对她自己而言。

她告诉半岛电视台：“我们需要在苏丹促进和平与和平共处，因为战争已经影响了社会，并助长了基于种族和部落认同的仇恨言论。”