Top corporate executives of Microsoft joined government officials from Kenya’s Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Kenya Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Board, and NGO leaders to celebrate the recent graduation of 1,093 women beneficiaries of an IYF/Microsoft employment initiative in Africa. “I am happy with the skills [I gained] because they will go a long way to enable me to transact faster with my clients.” says Terry Wafula, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Nairobi who completed the program. The initiative in Kenya is carried out by the African Centre for Women, Information and Communications Technology (ACWICT), a member of the IYF global partner network.

 

The “Youth Empowerment Program” was launched in 2007 to improve the employability prospects of disadvantaged youth [ages 16 to 35] in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania.   The four-country program plans to reach 40,000 beneficiaries through targeted high quality information and communications technology (ICT) skills and other job-related training.   Supported through a US$1 million grant from Microsoft, the initiative seeks to address the soaring youth unemployment rate in Sub-Saharan Africa, where one young person in five is jobless.   

 

“This partnership with IYF to improve the job prospects and income-generating opportunities for Africa’s youth is extremely important, and Microsoft welcomes the opportunity to work with an organization such as IYF on this initiative” said Orlando Ayala, Senior Vice President of Microsoft Emerging Segments Market Development Group at the founding event last year.