Africa112 is one of the ground breaking projects which is run by African Union Chapter in partnership with Core Foundation that aims to raise $112 million USD to respond to the needs of the continent’s young people.
The youth are Africa’s largest resources making up to over 65% of the continent’s population. It is know that in Africa, the youth constitutes about 37% of the total labour force, but make up about 60 % total unemployment.
This continental project is aimed at sensitizing on the Agenda 2063 aspiration 6 “an Africa where development is people driven, unleashing the potential of its women and youth,” which will be on a yearly basis.
It is against this background that the Core Foundation and the African Union Chapter are tasked to be the over-arching body of the Africa112 fund that will focus on the youth and women in Africa.
Africa 112 believes in creating a cadre of entrepreneurs who initiate sustainable enterprises that help in empowering marginalised sections of the society.
Africa is going through a youth bulge with the medium age of the population under 25 years old. Creating opportunities for the burgeoning number of youth is a challenge that cannot be solved only at country level.
According to authorities, if properly harnessed this growing working age population could drive Africa’s economic transformation.
The majority of youth do not have stable economic opportunities of the 420 million youth aged 15 to 35 years in Africa today, the majority are unemployed, discouraged or only vulnerably employed.
Miss Khutso Modiselle, the executive director African Union Chapter said Africa112 is an opportunity for young people to create and leave a legacy for their African blue print and talent and furthering the development of the African empire.
“Africa112 is a dream come true for many of the young Africans in disadvantaged communities getting a hand up and a stepping stone to the potential of what Africa can be and it will be,” she said.
She continued: “It’s a sociological change not only the entrepreneurs in Africa but also to many different talents in different fields in Africa for the development of skills and empowerment of young Africans”.
She said the Africa112 Summit “The future of Africa, Her youth and women” which will be held on the 24-25th of May 2017 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Miss Hindia Mahammed, the project and finance director of the African Union Chapter said she could imagine herself in the shoes of those women that will be the beneficiaries of the African 112 fund.
“This will be a platform to build successful stories to impact and inspire other African women. I believe that women in African are the family back borne and we would want to stand with women who are working tirelessly to make an economic contribution towards supporting their children,” she said.
She said the two-day think tank will unpack supplier development, effective troubleshooting and existing strategies. “It will also demonstrate how entrepreneurs can achieve operational and financial independence, SME development policy of formalisation and more”.
“We want to awaken the culture of entrepreneurship within the SMEs sector and give them a vision for their future, providing them with a Hand- Up, not Hand Out. This will mark the introduction of an exhibition which will showcase leading Enterprise Development specialists,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, the founder of Core Foundation and the partner’s coordinator of the Africa112 fund, Alvin Nyika said they would like to encourage and enhance partnership to encourage entrepreneurship and leadership within our continent.
“The world today is looking at the entire Africa as a gold mine and Africa112 is here to unlock the potential of youth in Africa not be job seekers but also to develop their entrepreneurial competency,” she said.
She said: “This is already happening and day by day Africa112 is the amplifier to their actives to move from being informal to formal. I believe that delay in promoting entrepreneurship is dangerous. We aim to tackle the unemployment issues of the continent”.
