By Oluchi Chibuzor
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Seedstars World, a Swiss-based start-up in emerging markets, have announced a strategic partnership to implement innovative ‘job creation track’ model to support youth employment and entrepreneurship in Africa.
The partnership is in line with the Bank’s entrepreneurship and innovation lab under its Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) strategy.
The Bank in a statement on its website said the aim of the initiative was to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million young people with skills to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025.
It said the strategy would support countries to stimulate entrepreneurship, youth employment and economic development with a focus on young women.
The Coordinator, Jobs for Youth in Africa, Tapera Muzira, said: “This is a spectacular initiative which will jump-start Africa’s encouragement of youth involvement in business enterprise and job creation. This partnership between the Bank and Seedstars World is an electrifying component of the Bank’s continuing commitment to sustainable job creation for women and young people across the continent.”
Seedstars is a Swiss-based private group of companies with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The group’s activities cover over 80 emerging ecosystems in a variety of events such as the Seedstars World Competition, acceleration programs, physical hubs called Seedspace, venture capital investments and company building activities.
However, African Development Bank will select and award the startup demonstrating the most potential for sustainable job creation with three months’ access to the Seedstars investment readiness program.
The Bank would also be the main partner for the remaining local bootcamps, as well as a two-day private bootcamp during the Seedstars Africa Summit on 2-5 December, 2019 with an emphasis on improving gender balance across all activities.
As a catalyst for the best business and investment opportunities in the region, the Summit will bring together its network of startups, investors, mentors, ambassadors, partners and over 300 key stakeholders across the continent.
