An association born from the belief that every young person has potential worth revealing

The story of the Association for the Promotion and Support of Young Entrepreneurs (PAJE) began in late 2023. Faced with the difficulties many young people encountered entering the workforce and starting businesses, an idea emerged: the need for a permanent framework for entrepreneurial training, mentoring and skills development.

That thinking led, on January 21, 2024, to the creation of the Young Entrepreneurs Support Project (PAJE), under the initiative of Prof. Sètondji Lévi NAGBO. From the outset, PAJE's mission was to raise young people's awareness of entrepreneurship and personal development through training sessions, conferences, hands-on workshops and community outreach.

The earliest activities focused mainly on personal development, leadership, entrepreneurial mindset and product-making such as soap production, with the goal of building autonomy, initiative and an entrepreneurial culture among young people. Several conferences were also held in higher education institutions and online, around themes related to entrepreneurship and youth employability.

Over the following months, PAJE grew steadily as young people from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds joined the association. This diversity of skills gradually broadened the organization's fields of action. Agriculture, livestock farming, food processing, and trade and commerce were added to the initial activities, followed by the integration of new sectors such as visual arts, in response to the economic realities and needs of young entrepreneurs.

In 2025, in order to bring its work closer to communities, PAJE began a phase of territorial structuring, setting up local coordination offices in several municipalities — notably Porto-Novo, Natitingou and Djougou — before evolving into a nationally-focused organization.

The steady growth of PAJE's activities also prompted a reflection on its institutional identity. The name "Young Entrepreneurs Support Project" often caused confusion among the public, with some equating the word "project" with a direct funding program. Yet PAJE's core purpose has always been to mobilize expertise, train, support and guide young people toward the opportunities that allow them to make their projects succeed over the long term.

It was in this spirit that, on July 3, 2026, the Young Entrepreneurs Support Project officially became the Association for the Promotion and Support of Young Entrepreneurs, while keeping the acronym PAJE. This change of name marks a major milestone in the life of the organization and reflects its ambition to place its work within a more sustainable, more structured and more ambitious vision.

Since this evolution, PAJE has continued to strengthen its network of partners, develop specialized training and mentoring programs, organize entrepreneurship conferences, roll out innovative projects such as AYIDO, and work to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to access support, funding and development mechanisms for their activities.

Today, PAJE stands as an organization committed to promoting youth entrepreneurship, building capacity, supporting project holders and developing a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem. Convinced that young people are the primary driver of development, PAJE continues to pursue its ambition of building a generation of skilled, responsible and value-creating entrepreneurs, capable of contributing lastingly to the development of Benin, Africa and the world.