A study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. from the International Youth foundation (IYF) reveals that 76% of workers in Sub- Saharan Africa are working at low skilled, low quality jobs that do not pay enough to lift them out of poverty. 72% of youth live on less than 2 dollars a day and have to work long hours to earn enough to survive.
Further, the report shows that 2.2 million youth in Sub-Saharan Africa enter the labor market every year, a labor market in which 70% of the job growth has been in vulnerable employment: unpaid work in family enterprises or self-employment in the informal sector.
Through an ongoing partnership with NetHope, Microsoft East and Southern Africa and its business partners have embarked on a program to train, mentor and place young computer science graduates in an internship programme that has seen 40 students hired by Microsoft business partners and other host organizations to work as interns and after 6 months graduate to full time employees.
Louis Otieno, General Manager, Microsoft East and Southern Africa said
We are inviting upcoming developers to take advantage of our Bizspark program which is a global program that helps software startups succeed by giving them free access to Microsoft software development tools for the first 3 years of starting their business. The program connects them with key industry players, including investors, and provides marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business
To further support the SMEs in Africa, Microsoft launched the Build Your Business program which is a free online, content-rich training curriculum for micro and small businesses. Build Your Business will help entrepreneurs leverage productivity and technology tools to grow their businesses.
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