300 million young Africans between the ages of 16 and 34 are either underemployed or unemployed. This is a ticking timebomb for the African continent.
Trace strives to address this dire challenge through empowering African youth and women and as a result helping alleviate poverty while building a better future for the continent.
The solution designed by Trace, which is already a very popular multimedia platform for 290million African youth, is the Trace Academia app. The app provides free learning from the world’s best experts and offers free courses and certificates that are dedicated to creating jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship. These courses range across 15 industries and are available in English, French, and Portuguese.
Trace Academia has formed a coalition with global private, public, and non-profit partners including the Mastercard Foundation, AFD, UNESCO, Grow with Google, the L'Oréal Foundation, Orange, Canal +, SACEM, Visa, Schneider Electric, Durex, Leroy Merlin, Bureau Veritas, Ford Foundation, Afreximbank, Accor-Kasada, the African Union, the University of Johannesburg, Valued Citizens, TPG, Satya Capital, Trace, BDD Software, Bain & Co, Havas, and many others.
“Our courses and certificates are created in partnership with influential players across the industry, governments, and non-profit sector. This free, easy-to-use app aims to train 26 million African youth by 2026 with the skills they need to find or create work and the opportunities to kickstart their careers because we strongly believe that their current circumstances should never be a hindrance to their success,” said Olivier Laouchez, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Trace.
For the coming months, Trace Academia will offer courses in music, beauty, fashion, entrepreneurship, digital marketing, hospitality, creativity, journalism, film, tech, public speaking, agility, electricity, DIY, and wellbeing. Some courses focus on teaching the soft skills youth need to succeed – whether they want to be their own boss or join the formal workforce.
