March 12, 2019 – JA Africa and the Tomorrow Foundation announce their partnership to deliver a multi-year program that builds entrepreneurial skills among young African students. The program, named “Futurepreneurship” program, builds on the JA Company Program curriculum and aims to expose high school students in Ghana, Gabon and Ivory Coast to entrepreneurship at a young age in order to encourage them to pursue this path as a career option in the future.
Over the course of three years, 1,650 young participants will gain knowledge on the world of business and how to use innovative thinking to solve challenging social problems. The program will reach 550 students each year.
According to the Africa Development Bank, approximately 10 to 12 million young people in Africa leave institutions to enter the Africa workforce yet annual job creation is only 3.1 million. This statistic means that each year, there are growing numbers of unemployed and underemployed African youth. Teaching entrepreneurship is a way to stop and reverse this trend.
In addition to funding entrepreneurship education for youth, the grant from the Tomorrow Foundation will also sponsor the Innovation/Future Tech Prize at the Africa Company of the Year competition over the next year. The Foundation initially sponsored the same prize at the 2018 competition in Accra, Ghana.
Maggie Gu, the Chairwoman of the Tomorrow Foundation, said “It is a privilege for the Foundation to pursue our successful partnership with JA Africa. We are glad to join our efforts to empower African youth and broaden their horizons. We strongly believe in the learning by doing principle, the resourcefulness of young African people and the need for Africa to have its own leaders in every field”.
“We are honored by the grant from the Tomorrow Foundation,” remarked Elizabeth Bintliff, the Chief Executive Officer of JA Africa. “This partnership allows JA Africa to deepen our impact in the countries where we currently work. We are especially thrilled to have the Foundation be a founding funder of our work in Cote d’Ivoire.”
Programs are expected to launch in the selected countries in April.
About Junior Achievement:
JA Africa prepares Africa’s youth for the future of jobs through the delivery of financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship training. JA Africa is a member of JA Worldwide, one of the largest global organizations focused on the economic empowerment of youth. For more information, visit: www.ja africa.org.
About the Tomorrow Foundation:
The Tomorrow Foundation is a Swiss-based organization committed to make Africa a more economically developed, politically stable and culturally confident continent. The Foundation believes in the power of technology, the importance of knowledge, the necessity of cultural confidence, and the significance of transparency and collaboration.
