The MENA region is experiencing a confluence of stressors, from ongoing instability to intensifying climate-related issues like water insecurity. At the recent Doha Forum, ECSP’s Lauren Risi sat down with Hassan Al-Mulla, CEO of Silatech, to discuss what his organization—an international non-profit NGO focusing on youth economic empowerment—is doing to address some of these challenges.

Risi: Could you tell us about Silatech’s work and your leadership at the organization?

Al-Mulla says telling the full story of the organization requires going back a few years.

“In 2005, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, our founder and chairperson, was involved in a high-level group on international issues. I believe the focus was on extremism, and one of the biggest reasons behind young people joining extremism was unemployment.”

The unemployment rate in MENA was 30 percent at that time (over twice the global average of 13 percent) and the rate of population growth was outpacing the creation of new jobs. The issue of unemployment in that context caught Her Highness’ attention, and in 2008 she announced a global initiative, Silatech.

The organization has two programs: The first initiative connects youth with employment opportunities, including through digital matching platforms and skills training. The second program, enterprise development, supports youth entrepreneurship and is a growing focus of Silatech’s work.

“We’re leaning more towards enterprise development because it helps facilitate tools for young people to become their own employer,” said Al-Mulla. “It’s for those who have the passion to create their own micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. And in the process of supporting them, we’re actually creating an ecosystem for them to employ others as well, so that there always is an amplifying effect…Some of the young entrepreneurs have hired up to 10, even 12 people.”

Since its launch, Silatech has expanded to 18 countries and, in collaboration with its partners, has reached 2 million people. “And we’re actually trying to reach a second milestone,” added Al-Mulla. “We’re looking to support 5 million young men and women alongside our partners.”

Risi: We know that some of the MENA’s challenges, like high unemployment and urbanization, can contribute to conflict, displacement, instability, and livelihood degradation. Can you talk about the role of youth employment in broader stability within the region and how you develop programs that link employment and stability?

“Stability is one of the goals that we seek,” Al-Mulla affirmed, both in terms of peace and the economy. “We actually do target specific countries that have a lot of conflict,” he noted.  Since young people don’t always have many options in those contexts, they can end up turning to extremism. So Silatech is working to provide alternative opportunities that empower conflict-affected youth and support their communities.

Stability also means that Silatech is focused on the long-term viability of its projects. On the one hand, they partner with governments to ensure employment programs have the institutional infrastructure to continue beyond Silatech’s involvement, and on the other, they build the skills and capacity of young entrepreneurs. “I always remember [the saying], ‘If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. But if you teach him how to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.”

Risi: Can you give an example of what an enterprise development project might look like?

Al-Mulla said that facilitating access to loans for youth who would otherwise be unable to secure them—usually via a local financial institution—is one way Silatech supports enterprise development. The organization also supports entrepreneurs through grants and training.

“The most recent example is a shop that sells chocolate and chocolate products,” he said. Although it was a relatively simple idea, he remarked, “the girl who was running that shop had so much passion that it became a trend.” Silatech partnered with a local MFI in Tunisia, where the project is based, and the institution extended a loan to her. “She was able to start the business and pay off the loan, and now she’s continuing to support herself and her family. And she has hired a couple of people.”

Many of the places where Silatech works have high youth unemployment. So this kind of entrepreneur capacity-building is an avenue to secure opportunities for youth in communities where there are few jobs available. “When you look at the job market, there aren’t a lot of job vacancies, there aren’t a lot of hiring companies,” Al-Mulla explained. “So there is no point in training [youth], making them put in the effort and then frustrating them when they don’t find a job.”

Risi: One of the words that we’re hearing a lot in the development community in the United States is localization—the idea of creating projects that are driven by local actors. Can you speak about your efforts to work with local financial institutions and local groups, and how you scale up those efforts across the region? How are you thinking about having a sustainable impact on the ground while also being effective on a larger scale?

“We try to start as a pilot in a specific country [and then] learn from it,” said Al-Mulla. Silatech partners with local organizations so that knowledge and experience from the ground can inform and help ”localize” the project. For a new project based in Somalia, for instance, Silatech is partnering with the UN and a private company with expertise in fisheries to provide funding to train youth in the fishing industry.

“It is important to take into account the circumstances of the country itself because not everything works everywhere,” he added. In some contexts, entrepreneurial projects work best, while in others, technical and vocational training is most successful.

Including larger partners in local efforts is also important to build on success. “We always like to enter into any project with an international partner, be it a UN agency or an international NGO, or even multilateral banks and organizations.” Once a project has proven successful, Silatech can work with those partners to implement it elsewhere on a larger scale.

Risi:  We know that climate is expected to take a significant toll on the MENA region. How are you integrating climate considerations into your work? How do you understand the relationship between combating the youth unemployment crisis and addressing the region’s sustainability challenges?

“It’s an important topic, and everyone needs to understand that [the environment] is relevant to everything,” said Al-Mulla. “We have noticed extreme drought, extreme flooding…And in a lot of the countries where we are working, [this] is impacting the projects.”

Since many of Silatech’s efforts involve natural resources, he explained, the organization is working to introduce sustainability into its activities. “When it comes to agriculture, we always ask the people who train the beneficiaries to introduce green agriculture, solar energy…how to use the resources available without destroying them for the long run.”

Al-Mulla added that everyone can do something to give back, whether on an individual or institutional level. Silatech is cutting back on travel for its own work by having youth apply for loans online, instead of dispatching loan offers to meet with beneficiaries in-person.

Risi: You have an interesting background: You were previously at Royal Dutch Shell and you’ve worked in a communications infrastructure company. Could you tell us about your own path? What led you to Silatech?

“It has been a very interesting journey,” Al-Mulla said. “I went into communications when I graduated, then I moved into oil and gas and commercial finance and investment in the UK. Then I moved back to Qatar, and now I’m working in an NGO focusing on youth economic empowerment.”

After getting a Business Administration degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Al-Mulla worked with international partners at the communications infrastructure company Oridoo. He also held positions at Shell before being approached by Silatech in 2021.

“It’s a huge transition from the private sector to the nonprofit sector,” he reflected. In his current role tackling youth unemployment, he is working to elevate an issue that is often underacknowledged. “How do we coordinate with others to create partnerships for a cause that doesn’t get the attention of much of the private sector or funding providers?”

For Al-Mulla, fostering youth passion is a central part of the effort, alongside institutional support. “I would advise people to follow their passion, follow their dreams.” “I’m using passion, not motivation,” he added, “because to me passion is more important than motivation. Motivation comes and goes, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to…put in all the effort that you need to give it your best.”