Displaced by war, young Sudanese turn to entrepeneurship to survive

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. 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.