Microsoft Strengthens Partnership With AFDB, to Develop Youth Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in Africa

American multinational technology corporation Microsoft has strengthened its partnership with the African Development Bank (AFDB) to provide support to Africa’s youth entrepreneurs under the bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) Initiative.

Through its African Transformation Office (ATO), Microsoft will partner with AFDB to develop entrepreneurship ecosystems in Africa through the creation of jobs and dramatically scaling impact in Africa through digital inclusion.

The partnership will see to the establishment and growth of national-level institutions, leveraging public-private collaboration model to ensure entrepreneurs get the required technical and financial support while building their capacity.

Microsoft reinforced its partnership with AFDB to develop Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem because it believes youth empowerment in the region will bolster solutions to unemployment if there is affordable access to finance, and quality business development services.

Commenting on its reinforced partnership with AFDB, General Manager of Microsoft Africa Regional Cluster, Wael Elkabbany said: “We believe much can be done to help foster youth entrepreneurship by collaborating with the African Development Bank, driving greater economic inclusion for this key segment of the population, and ultimately building a more prosperous society.”

”Already we’ve seen considerable success partnering together on initiatives such as Coding for Employment, which set out to create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa in just 10 years.”

Also, the African Development Bank (AFDB) Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Solomon Quaynor said “The strengthening of our partnership with Microsoft on the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) is an important development in our journey towards harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend and facilitating the creation of millions of jobs for young Africans by 2025.

“The initiative places much-needed focus on youth entrepreneurship, which is key to achieving our ambitious employment targets.”

This partnership seeks to support the establishment of national-level institutions through a public-private collaboration model to scale up technical and financial support for youth entrepreneurs to build their capacity.