VENTURES AFRICA – Microsoft Nigeria through its YouthSpark initiative is partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) – Nigeria’s largest body of university graduates – to boost employability and reduce youth unemployment in Africa’s second-largest economy.
YouthSparkis a global initiative that aims to create opportunities for 300 million youth in more than 100 countries during the next three years. This companywide initiative includes Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and other company programs — both new and enhanced — empowering youth to imagine and realise their full potential by connecting them with greater opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.
Through this, and as part of the commitments announced earlier this year through the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, Microsoft is creating a platform for youth to learn leadership and life skills that aim to address youth unemployment caused by lack of skills which is one key factor hindering economic growth in Africa.
The Nigerian arm of the effort is a collaboration between Microsoft Nigeria, NYSC, Mind the Gap, a job creation, employability and social entrepreneurship incubation programme; and Future Enterprise Support Scheme, an online community where young people can come together to share knowledge, ideas, tips and resources.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, Chude Jidenowo, Executive Director of The Future Enterprise Support Scheme added, “I am proud of Microsoft for identifying what is the most urgent problem facing the continent’s young people – jobs. We speak often of Africa’s demographic bonus, but unless we tackle the issues of unemployment and employability, that will become a demographic burden.”
The software giant said in an official statement that it plans to launch a comprehensive and interactive training course designed to support aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs and an employability portal locally, which Nigerian youth will be able to access to help them find jobs.
YouthSpark is tightly aligned to the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, a new investment in the Continent which was announced in Lagos February 2013, to help Africa improve its global competitiveness.
By 2016, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative plans to help place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of African youth, bring 1 million African small and medium enterprises online, up-skill 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce, and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability, 75 percent of which Microsoft will help place in jobs. These new commitments through YouthSpark in Nigeria will contribute significantly toward delivering on these goals.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
