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.  The youth are Africa’s largest resources making up to over 65% of the continents population.  It is known 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 marginalized sections of the society.

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Africa is going through a youth bulge with the medium age of the population under the 25 years old.  Creating opportunities for the burgeoning number of youth is a challenge that cannot be solved only at country level. 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.

Engaging in entrepreneurship shifts young people from being “job seekers” to “job creators” and also from dependence to self-sufficiency. Women seeking both formal and informal jobs are particularly impacted often facing even greater barriers to accessing opportunities 35% of female youth are not in employment, education or training compared to only 20% men. Different forms of training are also needed to address the limited skills of youth once they have left formal education.

The African Union Chapter endeavors to implement the African Union Agenda 2063 through creating economic opportunities of African youth towards a prosperous and thriving African society. The youth are of paramount to achieve the fruition of the policies created by the African Union and the sovereign African States that compose of it.

Miss Khutso Modiselle the executive director African Union Chapter said “that 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 disadvantages communities getting a hand up and a stepping stone to the potential of what Africa can be and it will be. 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. We are offering the youth in Africa an opportunity to make the first steps of their dreams being their own ships captains not passengers and also building the confidence in their African identity.”

Our theme for the coming Africa112 Summit “The future of Africa, Her youth and women”  will be held on the 24-25th of May 2017 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.  Miss Hindia Mahammed the Projects and Finance Director of the African Union Chapter said “that she could imagine herself in the shoes of those women that will be the beneficiaries of the African 112 fund, that this will be a platform to build successful stories to impact and inspire other African women as she strongly believes 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 the supporting their children and creating employment for other women. This one of the many steps that we are taking to build an African empire but together as women and youth in African we can be the change we want to see.

The two day think tank will unpack supplier development, effective troubleshooting & existing strategies. It will also demonstrate how entrepreneurs can achieve operational and financial independence, SME development policy of formalization 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, new entrepreneurial start- up’s and big business Enterprise Development.

We would like to encourage and enhance partnership to encourage entrepreneurship and leadership within our continent said Alvin Nyika founder of Core Foundation and the partner’s coordinator of the Africa112 fund. “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. I believe the impact of the Africa112 will also go beyond the individuals that will benefit but also governments in Africa to start to plug into such initiatives that are being led by the African youth to focus on economic empowerment of the young entrepreneurs and women in Africa, who are trying to create jobs and contribute to economic transformation of their countries. 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, support the African youth who lack minimum qualifications. Africa112 will truly transform the future of Africa through its youth and women”.

We would also like to extend an invitation to other organization that would like to be part of this ground breaking initiative for the youth and women in African join us in different levels as

• Funding partners
• Job and markets linkages partners
• Incubation and capacity building partners
• Monitoring and evaluation partners
• Philanthropic and venture capital partners.

For more information about how to partner and also attend our launching summit do contact by email: africa112@auchapter.org  

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