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Youth

PMIEF and African Leadership Academy Expand Partnership to Empower Young Entrepreneurs

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The African Leadership Academy (ALA) has received a multi-million rand grant from the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF) to expand their partnership and introduce students to project management through the Build-in-a-Box curriculum. This program, based on the BUILD framework, aims to teach youth entrepreneurship to combat unemployment and engage them in leading solutions to local problems. ALA's flagship Two-Year Program has already seen students lead and facilitate over 60 Build-in-Box camps for over 2000 peers in cities across Africa.

Key Takeaways:

  • The partnership between ALA and PMIEF aims to equip students with project management skills to combat unemployment and engage them in leading solutions to local problems.
  • ALA's Build-in-a-Box curriculum has been successfully implemented in over 60 camps, reaching over 2000 students across Africa.
  • The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050, with 40% of the continent's population under 15 as of 2022.
  • ALA's strategy is to train its students in entrepreneurship and project management to enable them to go into communities and train more young people to run and manage businesses.
  • Successful start-ups created through ALA's program will contribute to the GDP and create much-needed employment.
  • 22% of Africa's working-age population starts businesses, the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world, according to the African Development Bank (ADB).
  • 79% of executives agree that the future of work will be based more on specific projects than roles, making project management skills essential for young people's future careers.
  • Working with PMIEF, ALA integrates project management skills into their STEM, entrepreneurial, or social impact programming and curricula.
  • The class of 2023 has 126 students, more than half female, and drawn from 38 countries enrolled in the 2-year diploma.
  • In the long term, knowledge of project management skills is vital to creating more strategic and collaborative professional future partners and leaders.

Statistics:

  • The world population is projected to hit 10 billion by 2055, with 95% of this growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
  • The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050.
  • 40% of Africa's population was under 15 as of 2022, making it the youngest continent.
  • Approximately 12 million students graduate each year in sub-Saharan Africa, competing for 3 million jobs, resulting in youth becoming entrepreneurs by necessity.
  • 22% of Africa's working-age population starts businesses, the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world.
  • 79% of executives agree that the future of work will be based more on specific projects than roles.
  • PMIEF has announced more than R92 million worth of global grants this year to help youth-focused non-profits shape the next generation of leaders.
  • These grants will enable recipient organizations to bring project management skills to an additional 2.1 million youth in 2023.

Sources:

  • African Leadership Academy (ALA)
  • Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF)
  • United Nations
  • African Development Bank (ADB)
  • Accenture
  • The Business and Financial Times (TBFT)

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