AfricaWorking initiative to benefit 250,000 youths with employability and entrepreneurship skills
Barclays Africa, Emerging, World, FranklinCovey, Knod, Microsoft, Safal Group, Syngenta and other groups of companies have today announced a new initiative that will see 250,000 youths benefit from employability and entrepreneurship skills.
Known as AfricaWorking the initiative seeks to channel the collective power and voice of the private sector to make an impact on employability and entrepreneurship in Africa.
“Most large corporations are looking at youth skills development in one form or another, because it’s crucial to their business. The idea behind AfricaWorking is to bring these corporations together, align our efforts, share our learnings and build human capital on a pan-Africa scale,” Lutz Ziob, Dean of the Microsoft 4Afrika Academy said.
“By 2045, Africa’s labour market is projected to be the biggest in the world. There is a great opportunity for us to engage the youth, help them develop relevant skills and find meaningful employment opportunities. Key to this is for us to collaborate and leverage technology where it makes sense to do so.” Charles Reed, General Manager for Community Investment for Barclays Africa, added.
The Association says it will leverage existing approaches and two bespoke ‘engines’ to help get youth career- and business-ready, and create a pipeline of recruitable talent for member companies. The initial platforms will leverage YouthWorks – a Microsoft entrepreneurship platform linking youth to career guidance, internships and entry-level job opportunities, and an employability platform powered by Knod. AfricaWorking members will use this platform to create their talent pipeline and shape the skilled employees when and where they need them, through real world projects that form the basis of this innovative learning model.
“There is currently a significant mismatch between the skills youth have and the skills employers are looking for. Our goal is to connect learners and employers in a unique 21st Century experience based learning model, which develops skilled youth and an energised workforce of competent employees,” Graham Doxey, CEO and Founder of Knod said.
The initiative is being rolled in Kenya and South Africa and aims to work across the continent by 2020.
