As part of efforts geared towards addressing unemployment and unlocking youth potential in Nigeria and other parts of West, East and Central Africa, Microsoft Nigeria has signed an MoU with Jobberman to create platforms to promote employment opportunities among the youth.
The two will do career guidance, employability skills, and enterprise development for young people in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ethiopia, through collaborative efforts and contributions to bridge the opportunity divide for local youths through the use of technology.
Kabelo Makwane, Managing Director, Microsoft Nigeria said the MoU signing represents one of the commitments of Microsoft Nigeria Citizenship team to further strengthen the success of the Microsoft Employability portal platform.
“The MoU is considered highly imperative at this time in order to further increase the number of job opportunities available to existing and new users of the Aiki.ng portal. Nigeria’s youthare amazing incubators for new innovative ways of thinking. By investing in their skills, we aim to help the next generation fulfil its potential, challenge the status quo and become the business leaders of tomorrow. We will assist in getting to explore other vital components of the employability portal hitherto not given maximum attention; these aspects include, career advisory, mentorship services and career centers,” he explained.
“Speaking at the event,Ayodeji Adewunmi, Jobberman’s CEO, explained that the platform will create immense opportunities for jobseekers and aspiring entrepreneurs. He also reiterated Jobberman’s commitment to matching top Talents with suitable job openings which he believeshas positioned the companyas the leading jobs and recruitment website in Nigeria”.
Olusola Amusan, Citizenship Manager at Microsoft Nigeria in his remarks highlighted activities undertaken by Microsoft within the Middle East and Africa region to empower youth, make them relevant and useful to their countries and most importantly, to themselves.
One of such initiatives is the Microsoft Youthspark which since its launch in September 2012 has created new opportunities for 227 million young people in more than 100 countries. This includes providing cash grants and technology donations to more than 350 youth-serving non-profits in nearly 100 countries. Youthspark has reached 16.2 million youths in Middle East and Africa.
The Microsoft IT Academy Program has more than 15,000 Member Institutions around the Globe and more than 1,400 in the Middle East and Africa region that get access to a wide range of digital curriculum resources leading to a globally recognized Certification at various levels of technology skills from beginner, intermediate up to advanced levels.
Last year, Microsoft announced the launch of The Cloud Startup Academy for Moroccan SMEs: a project that aims to foster entrepreneurship and create jobs by unlocking the power of Cloud Computing. In an increasingly interconnected world, this is the kind of high-impact approach whose ripple effects will be felt across the entire ecosystem.
Jobberman has over the years organized job fairs with key partners in a bid to help more young people find jobs and start meaningful careers. In 2014, it partnered with The Future Project to organize Intern4Jobs – a programme with the objective to up-skill and connect at least 100,000 young West Africans to jobs and job opportunities through internships over a two years’ period.
Jobberman,through its job board www.jobberman.com and direct recruitment services for companies, has successfully placed over 67,000 people in jobs between 2013 and 2014 alone. It aims to place many more in the nearest future.