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Our continent’s young people face a rapidly changing world and it’s with this in mind that we have made a very clear strategic commitment to our continent and the development of its youth.
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other emerging technologies are happening in ever-shorter cycles, changing the very nature of the jobs that need to be done and the skills needed to do them.
It is essential to equip our youth with the full range of skills, knowledge and attitudes being sought after by employers and that they need to be employable. We do this with a demand-led approach, and our initiatives support the development of their technical, vocational, social and digital skills in line with the requirements of Africa’s key growth sectors.
We have prioritised education and skills development, and we are partnering with leading specialists to empower young people with the training and tools they need for employment and entrepreneurship in the workplace of the future.
This is done by
- Funding access to quality tertiary education with innovative education financing solutions.
- Offering a curated Fellowship Programme focused on developing a cadre of authentic, accountable and ethical future leaders with the potential to play a shaping role in their respective communities on the African continent.
- Advancing digital, technical and vocational skills development through artisanship, alternative qualification and skills development pathways, specialised academies and sector cross-skilling.
- Promoting women and youth entrepreneurship; and
- Supporting institutional capacity building and teacher training
Education and employability initiatives
ReadytoWork
Our ReadytoWork initiative is a free online face-to-face training programme that aims to upskill young people who are out to find employment or be self-employed. It focuses on work, people, money and entrepreneurial skills, as well as providing learning material to help improve on soft skills that you need to transition from education to the world of work.
You will find links to career guidance, as well as CV templates. For more information, please visit the programme here.
Scholarship Programme
The objective of our merit-based scholarship programme is to support young people from previously disadvantaged communities, who remain otherwise excluded from accessing tertiary education.
In partnership with several universities across our markets, this programme focuses on covering full tuition, accommodation and prescribed learning material for students who meet the academic performance, and financial needs criteria. Watch how our scholarship programme has touched lives here.
Technical and vocational training, work-based exposure and job shadowing
In South Africa, the government’s Adopt-a-TVET- initiative is critical, and Absa has collaborated with TVETs across the country to provide an opportunity for a workplace exposure to the students that runs for five days.
This is to enable completion of their curriculum requirements, and expose them to the realities of the working world. We have similar work-based exposure and training programmes in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda with local education institutions, NGOs, and labour associations to provide similar work experience and placement opportunities.