February 28, 2019 – JA Africa and The SOL Foundation announce their partnership to build entrepreneurship, financial literacy and life skills among young African footballers. The project, funded by The SOL Foundation and to be implemented by JA Africa during the course of this year, targets youth in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It builds on JA’s successful delivery of entrepreneurship training to young footballers in sports leagues in Kenya.
The overarching goal of this project is to build a cohort of entrepreneurial-minded and financially conscious athletes in Africa who can be change-makers on and off the football field. By capitalizing on their aspiration for sport, the program will equip the beneficiaries with knowledge and tools to succeed, reinforce an environment that allows them to thrive and enhance their resilience by building soft skills and life skills such as discipline, collaboration, communication and hard work that are transferable between the playing field and the world of work.
Specifically, participants will be taken through the JA Company Program curriculum – a 16-week course, which will guide them through the stages of establishing and running a business. The young athletes will also receive financial literacy training to help them manage their money and promote a better savings culture. The Company Program focuses on life skills, identifying business opportunities, developing business ideas, financing and launching a business, managing and making a business sustainable.
JA will work with local football leagues in each country in delivering this project. Beneficiaries will also receive workplace exposure through job shadows with local companies.
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 SOL Foundation:
The SOL Foundation was established in 2015 with the purpose to use the power of Sports, particularly football, to contribute and enhance the prospects of underprivileged and vulnerable young people by creating sustainable Opportunities and by building flourishing Lives and communities through a diversity of initiatives, projects and programmes.
