Making Entrepreneurial
Dreams Real in Africa
New growth is spreading across Africa from city to city, over the hills, through the savannas, and across the borders.
It’s the current crop of JA’s young entrepreneurs who are being prepared for the region’s workforce and emerging small- and medium-size enterprises.
Particularly in Africa, entrepreneurship means much more than starting a new business. It denotes the whole process whereby individuals become aware of the opportunities that exist to empower themselves, develop ideas, and take personal responsibility and initiative. In a broad sense, JA entrepreneurial programs promote enterprise and employability among young people through public and private partnerships to improve the quality of life.
The JA Africa Region’s entrepreneurship education efforts have been tremendously successful, thanks to the partnership and support of The Coca Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF). This is especially important in a region where young people make up more than 50 percent of the population. Through TCCAF support, the reach of JA programs has doubled across Africa—from 21,896 young people in 2008 to 46,315 this year.
As of June 2009, JA had implemented JA Company Program, Our Nation, JA It’s My Business! and JA Job Shadow in 362 schools in Africa. Participating countries included Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The TCCAF-JA program objective is to provide experiences that promote the skills, understanding, and perspectives young people will need to succeed in a global economy and to become productive, contributing members of society. TCCAF supports this goal so strongly that approximately 64 Coca-Cola employees are volunteering to deliver JA programs, and eight Coca-Cola executives are serving on JA boards in Africa. With their help, JA plans to implement student company competitions in the region and develop regional strategic plans to increase JA’s impact.
According to William Asiko, President of the Foundation, TCCAF is “proud to be working in partnership with JA Worldwide on a multiyear, scalable program to provide African youth with valuable life skills and tools to empower them as they build sustainable, prosperous futures for themselves and their communities.”
