Nigeria and 5 Other African Countries to Benefit From The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation

Nigeria and five other African countries have been shortlisted to benefit from The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF) $4.5 million youth empowerment initiative that will provide life skills training, business skills training and access to employment and mentoring for 25,000 young Africans. This disclosure was made at the weekend at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2015, in Cape Town South Africa, according to The Nation Newspaper. According to the report, The Youth Empowered for Success (YES!) program will empower marginalized youth in six African countries and will leverage technology and strategic partnerships to accelerate and scale the initiative to provide opportunities to many more youth across the continent. It will be introduced in Kenya, Tunisia and South Africa in phase one before being implemented in Liberia, Nigeria and Uganda through TCCAF and implementing partners, Mercy Corps, Microsoft, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and Kuza Biashara. The programme is expected to address critical development and life skills for 18-35 year old unemployed and underemployed young Africans, and provide access to sustainable economic opportunities. Nathan Kalumbu, Chairman, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, said “the potential to connect young people with the right opportunities to build better lives while strengthening their communities is incredibly compelling but harnessing the incredible energy and ambition of a young and growing population will be critical to Africa’s future economic advancement.” He added that “over 10-12 million young Africans are entering the workforce each year yet less than half this number of employment opportunities are currently available. The YES! initiative underscores our commitment to identifying a sustainable long-term solution for youth economic empowerment and creating opportunities that will help overcome this employment gap.”