Do Soft Skills Drive Employment and Startup Creation? A Pilot Study at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tanzania faces persistent youth unemployment, with graduates consistently lacking the soft skills that employers and innovation ecosystems require. The University of Dar es Salaam has delivered structured innovation and entrepreneurship programs through its ICT Innovation Hub (UDICTI) since 2010, engaging approximately 2,500 students, while Empower Limited has trained over 600 UDSM students in employability-focused soft skills through a partnership established in 2019. The Tanzania Startup Association's 2024 report found that approximately 20% of all registered Tanzanian startups were founded by UDSM alumni. Despite these outcomes, no rigorous evaluation has established whether they are attributable to program participation, which specific skills drive them, or which
complementary constraints prevent graduates from converting skills into economic outcomes.

This pilot will generate the evidence needed to design a future full-scale randomized evaluation. It will trace a representative sample of UDICTI and Empower alumni to document correlational evidence across employment and startup creation pathways; develop and validate ESTEEM-aligned soft skills measurement instruments for Tanzania; test curriculum feasibility; map which soft skills matter most across Tanzania's innovation ecosystem through interviews and focus groups with founders and innovators; and identify which complementary constraints are most binding.

Findings will directly inform a future full-scale RCT contributing to JOI's Soft Skills research agenda. The study is implemented through UDSM/UDICTI in partnership with Tanzania Startup Association and Empower Limited.