Designing Capital Around Young People and the Careers It Creates

Picture this. A young woman in Johannesburg completes a logistics training program. It wasn’t easy to get there. She balanced caregiving responsibilities at home, navigated unreliable transport to attend class, and took a chance on a program that promised more than skills—it promised a pathway.

After months of training, she lands a paid internship at a green freight company. Soon after, she’s offered a full-time role. She starts to save. She starts to plan. Her world shifts.

That outcome didn’t happen because someone gave her a grant. It wasn’t the result of a pitch competition or a donation box. It happened because an investor chose to put money into a program that only paid off if young people like her succeeded. Her employment was the return.

That’s a different kind of financial logic. One that centers people, not products. One that moves with the rhythms of real life.

We’re starting to see more of this shift. Capital that cares about what happens next. Capital that doesn’t just seed ideas but stays present through execution, iteration, and outcome.

Let’s take a closer look at three financial instruments that are reshaping how we think about investing in young people’s livelihoods. These aren’t theoretical. They’re in motion around the world, showing us what’s possible when finance meets futures with care and precision.

The Tension: Skills Are Everywhere. Jobs Aren’t.

Spend time with young people in any region and you’ll hear it. The training exists. The programs exist. The motivational speeches and “youth empowerment” campaigns exist.

What’s missing is traction.

Training doesn’t pay the bills. Certifications don’t guarantee interviews. And too often, funders walk away after the photo op, not staying to see if the job placements materialize, if retention lasts, or if the job was even decent to begin with.

There’s a fundamental disconnect in how we fund the learning-to-earning journey. Most capital flows toward the early stages—curriculum development, bootcamps, online platforms. But the harder part, the part where young people step into work, start earning, and begin building their path, often remains unfunded or under-resourced.

This isn't just a program design problem. It's a systems design problem. And at its root is a question about how we understand value.

What if the measure of capital wasn’t just what it bought at the beginning, but what it made possible at the end? This is where innovative finance comes into play. It consists of mechanisms and solutions that mobilize, govern and distribute capital beyond traditional financing flows, thereby increasing the volume, efficiency and effectiveness of this capital.

📍Three Tools That Move With Young People, Not Just Around Them

These three mechanisms each hold a different position in the learning-to-earning arc. Together, they show what it means to design financial products that work at the speed of youth outcomes.

1. Youth Employment Impact Bond

At its core, this model asks investors to fund a youth employment program with their own capital. But unlike a traditional loan or grant, repayment to the investor - provided by either government or philanthropy - only happens if the program meets defined employment outcomes. That might mean getting a young person into a stable job, keeping them employed for six months, or supporting them into entrepreneurship.

This isn’t speculative philanthropy. It’s performance-based finance with real teeth.

What shifts? Accountability. Risk. And most importantly, attention. The financial model pushes all stakeholders to care deeply about what happens after training ends.

It doesn’t just ask, “Did they complete the course?” It demands, “Are they earning a living wage now?”

2. Green Jobs Outcomes Fund

This model expands the impact bond concept to the green economy. A pooled fund made up of philanthropic, public, or catalytic capital multiplies youth programs, helping young people get climate aligned jobs. The fund recoups its investment from outcomes payers (again - government or philanthropy) once youth achieve quality jobs. 

These jobs might include roles in solar installation, regenerative agriculture, e-waste recycling, or urban greening. The fund doesn’t finance just training. It finances employment that meets both economic and environmental goals.

It is a structure designed for coherence. Between economic inclusion and ecological transition. Between what the planet needs and what young people are hungry for: purpose, stability, and a chance to contribute.

Where typical programs focus on short-term outputs, this model builds long-term incentives for ecosystems to work together—education providers, employers, fund managers, and communities—to ensure young people actually access and keep green jobs.

3. Impact Linked Business Loan Fund

This mechanism steps into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It offers loans to businesses that serve or are led by youth, with flexible terms based on social impact performance.

If a business hires a certain number of young people, provides training, or creates apprenticeships, it may qualify for lower interest rates or repayment bonuses.

This is finance that listens. It recognizes that young people are not just job-seekers—they are job creators. It builds incentives that encourage private enterprises to become stewards of youth development, not just employers of last resort.

And it asks the private sector to be a partner in social progress, not just a consumer of labor.

Patterns Worth Naming

There’s a saying in the (U.S.) South, where I’m from: “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you.”

That’s the kind of clarity these mechanisms offer.

Each of these tools tells us exactly what we value—whether we’ve said it aloud or not. They push back on the idea that capital is just numbers on a spreadsheet. They remind us that how we design finance reflects what we believe about people, about potential, and about what’s worth betting on.

They also challenge a deep pattern in traditional investing: the tendency to make youth carry all the risk while institutions keep all the control. These tools flip that. They ask the system to show up differently. To move from promise to proof, from good intention to actual outcomes.

And they ask funders to step in, not step back, when it matters most.

Takeaways for Capital Designers

For those exploring how to shape financial tools that deliver real-world outcomes:

• Look beyond the front-end. What happens after the training, the pilot, the showcase? Who’s earning? Who’s building?

• Build shared accountability. Let funders, employers, and communities co-own both the risk and the upside.

• Use the right capital at the right time. Grants can de-risk innovation. Debt can reward performance. Equity can accelerate scale. But none of these should be used in isolation or without intention.

  
  

And most importantly: design with, not for. Young people know what works. The job of finance is to listen, respond, and make room.

Closing the Loop: The First Paycheck as System Signal

Back to Johannesburg. Or Delhi. Or Seville.

When a young person earns their first paycheck, it sends a signal through the system. That they are not just learning. They are contributing. That the investment made in their potential was not symbolic, but structural.

When we talk about inclusive economies, it’s not a tagline, it’s a test. Can someone, regardless of where they start, move through a pathway into dignified work without needing extraordinary luck?

These three financial products don’t answer every challenge. But they do something powerful. They move capital closer to people. They ask better questions. And they remind us that the return we seek might just be someone’s first chance.

Let’s design more of that.

P.S. We've explored and begun designing a range of financial products that support the full learning to earning journey for young people—across different contexts, economies, and ecosystems. If you’re curious to learn more or want to explore what’s possible together, reach out to our team.