Seedstars World, a Swiss-based startup competition in emerging markets, and the African Development Bank have partnered 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 and its innovative ‘job creation track’ model.
The aim is to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million young people with skills to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025. The strategy will support countries to stimulate entrepreneurship, youth employment and economic development with a focus on young women.
As part of the ‘job creation track’, Seedstars World is adding the criterion “the potential for job creation” in selecting the local competition winners. The 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 will 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.
Tapera Jeffrey Muzira, Jobs for Youth in Africa Coordinator, 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”.