This three-year partnership will enable thousands of youth to access JA programs to set them on the path to success, not just as individuals but as leaders who will influence positive change within their communities
BOSTON, United States of America, August 12, 2022/APO Group/ —
Z Zurich Foundation (ZZF) announced today—International Youth Day—that it will partner with JA Worldwide and JA Africa (www.JA-Africa.org), building on relationships already established with JA Canada and Junior Achievement España (JA Spain). ZZF has made a strategic decision to venture and fund Africa, and has chosen us, Africa’s largest and most-impactful youth-serving NGO, JA Africa, as their implementing partner.
This three-year partnership will enable thousands of youth to access JA programs to set them on the path to success, not just as individuals but as leaders who will influence positive change within their communities. The partnership will also enable JA Africa to expand existing operations in four countries, and launch operations in five new countries.
According to the African Development Bank, each year, 10 to 12 million African students finish their education and compete for three million jobs (https://bit.ly/3pbVAZ0), resulting in sub-Saharan African youth becoming entrepreneurs by necessity, not by choice. The ZZF-JA partnership empowers young people in Africa to succeed as both innovative job creators and well-qualified job seekers, following the path best suited to their economic realities.
“The partnership integrates the education and economic ecosystems of the countries in which we work,” said JA Worldwide CEO Asheesh Advani, “leading to long-term sustainability. Over the course of the next three years, this partnership will impact the lives of more than 550,000 young people across nine countries—Burkina Faso, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda—resulting in greater capacity in four current JA Africa countries and brand-new operations in five more.”
The partnership integrates the education and economic ecosystems of the countries in which we work
JA Africa is a trusted and well-respected NGO that has partnered with local leadership and communities across the African continent for over 40 years. As part of the global JA network, JA Africa has the advantage of drawing on the best practices, curricula, pedagogies, effective governance models, fundraising, communications, and financial-management capacity of over 100 JA member locations, five additional JA regions, and a global headquarters, all of which provide the solid foundation upon which this partnership is built.
Grégory Renand, Head of Z Zurich Foundation, agreed. “JA is best known for utilizing volunteers to deliver educational experiences. We are very proud of this new partnership, delivering interventions and skill-based expertise with the aim to create brighter futures in Africa, building on impactful programs we’ve already built with JA around the world. The Z Zurich Foundation’s expertise on social equity and mental well-being nicely complements JA’s track record in building resilience and self-efficacy in more than 12 million young people every year.”
JA Africa CEO, Simi Nwogugu, has led efforts in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa for more than 25 years. “Many young Africans are entrepreneurial by nature,” she said, “but may be limited in their ability to develop solutions to the challenges around them and capture value from those solutions. The ZZF-JA partnership will help African youth develop the resilience, problem- solving and design-thinking skills, and mental well-being they need to understand the complex problems in the region and design sustainable solutions, and mentorship will play an important role.
“Exposing Africa youth to Zurich Insurance Group employees as global mentors,” Nwogugu continued, “as well as to JA Africa alumni and role models such as Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, who has founded not one but two unicorns in Nigeria, will help build the critical social skills and confidence necessary to validate their ideas and communicate them to a global audience of funders and clients.”
The announcement was made today at an event through which members of African media were able to ask questions, with a special interest in scaling and fast-tracking entrepreneurship education in Africa. The panelists noted that Z Zurich Foundation, JA Worldwide, JA Africa, and JA member countries in Africa are working to create a new breed of partnership that develops an ecosystem of role models and mentors, who work with youth through a mix of high-tech digital learning experiences; low-tech options like television, radio, and podcasts; and face-to- face experiences. Then, after students graduate, regional and local vehicles that either match students with employers or help youth launch businesses through incubators and seed grants.
“For Africa to be successful as a continent,” said Nwogugu, “all our youth need access to immersive education that leads to economic success. Through this partnership, we’ll create entrepreneurship ecosystems that work together to fuel young Africans to become changemakers, creating businesses that solve the continent’s challenges with climate change, food shortages, and inadequate infrastructures for health and education.”
The event kicks off with an invitation-only ministerial symposium focused on the theme of “Fostering innovation, attracting investment, and promoting sustainable growth in the oil, gas, and energy sectors”
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ —
AOW: Investing in African Energy (https://AOWEnergy.com) – Africa’s leading oil, gas and energy event – has confirmed attendance for more than 80 ministers and senior officials, representing African governments, energy departments and regulators at next month’s event.
These influential stakeholders will be among the more than 1 600 senior delegates and industry leaders who will be attending the event to develop policy, share discoveries, secure investment, and shape Africa’s energy future.
The event kicks off with an invitation-only ministerial symposium focused on the theme of “Fostering innovation, attracting investment, and promoting sustainable growth in the oil, gas, and energy sectors.”
Given the recent major oil-and-gas discoveries across Africa, the energy transition and major geopolitical events, it is clear that the energy sector needs positive intervention
Among the officials and government ministers attending will be energy leaders from South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Eswatini, Uganda, CAR, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Gabon, Malawi, Morocco, Zanzibar, Liberia, Senegal, Congo Brazzaville and Sierra Leone.
In addition, the event will feature high-level delegations from numerous national oil companies, as well as multilateral bodies including the African Union, (AU), African Energy Commission (AFREC), African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) and the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
AOW will see these energy leaders networking with C-suite executives and decision-makers from more than 760 top energy companies at daily networking events, to discuss insights, forge new relationships, and negotiate major energy deals.
“We are so excited to see the calibre of delegates at this year’s AOW event,” says Chief Executive Officer of Sankofa Events, Paul Sinclair. “Given the recent major oil-and-gas discoveries across Africa, the energy transition and major geopolitical events, it is clear that the energy sector needs positive intervention. The high-powered attendance proves AOW is a key platform to enable this intervention.”
Key themes to be discussed at this year’s AOW will be sustainable upstream development; expanding gas value chains; renewables and new energies; adoption of best-in-class technologies; and access to finance.
AOW: Investing in African Energy will culminate in a special anniversary party at Groot Constantia Vineyard to celebrate 30 years of the AOW event.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AOW: Investing in African Energy.
The facility is expected to promote value addition which will guarantee increased earnings to the company while also fostering the creation of about 400 new jobs
CAIRO, Egypt, October 4, 2024/APO Group/ —
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) has approved a US$20.8 million financing facility for Nigeria-based Starlink Global & Ideal Limited to enable the company construct and operate a 30,000-metric tonne per annum cashew processing factory in Lagos.
We are delighted at this partnership which promises to deliver significant impact on employment in Nigeria
According to the facility agreement signed in on July 22, 2024, Afreximbank will provide the funds in two tranches with the first tranche of US$7.48M going toward capital expenditure for the construction of the factory and the second, totalling US$13.25M to be deployed as working capital for the operations of the factory.
The facility is expected to promote value addition which will guarantee increased earnings to the company while also fostering the creation of about 400 new jobs once the factory becomes operational. It is also expected to support about 40 small and medium-sized enterprises.
Commenting on the transaction, Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra Africa Trade and Export Development, Afreximbank, said that by supporting Starlink Global to establish a modern processing facility, Afreximbank is making it possible for Africa to add value to its agro-commodities, thereby facilitating exports and subsequent inflow of much-needed foreign exchange into the continent.
“We are delighted at this partnership which promises to deliver significant impact on employment in Nigeria. It will contribute to value creation and to the development of the local community while also improving the lots of smallholder farmers and small business suppliers that will work with Starlink across the value chain,” Mrs. Awani added.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.
Participating in an on-stage interview at Angola Oil & Gas 2024, Sonangol CEO Sebastião Gaspar Martins emphasized that oil and gas remains a core focus for the national oil company
LUANDA, Angola, October 3, 2024/APO Group/ —
Angola’s national oil company Sonangol reiterated its commitment to driving sustainable hydrocarbon development during the Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) conference this week. Speaking during an “In-Conversation with” session, Sonangol CEO Sebastião Gaspar Martins stated that the company will not abandon oil and gas, but rather advance decarbonized oil and gas development.
We are looking at opportunities in the gas sector and have identified the right partner to develop non-associated gas
By investing in upstream oil and gas production while prioritizing low-carbon projects, Sonangol aims to boost national crude output, while diversifying and decarbonizing the industry. The NOC is focusing efforts on non-associated gas development, as well as alternative energy sources such as solar.
“We are looking at opportunities in the gas sector and have identified the right partner to develop non-associated gas. Gas produced from Angola LNG will be used for the production of fertilizer and we are evaluating the utilization of gas in the south of the country, linking gas with steel industries. We also have a blue carbon project, linked to the reduction of carbon through the plantation of mangroves. We have one area in Luanda and have identified four additional areas for this,” stated Gaspar Martins.
Sonangol has undergone transformation in recent years: following the creation of the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG) in 2019, Sonangol transferred its role as national concessionaire and regulator. This transformation has aimed to make Sonangol more competitive and strengthen its capacity as an upstream operator. Concurrently, the government is partially privatizing the NOC, with privatization set to be complete in 2026. This process will enhance financial capacity, allowing Sonangol to drive new upstream projects forward.
“The transformation of Sonangol started several years ago, when we passed the regulatory, concessionaire role to the ANPG. At the time, we transferred almost 600 employees to the ANPG. After that, Sonangol underwent a restructuring program where we created five core business units from 36 different entities – starting with exploration and production. We want to go public, but we want to do it properly. So, we are currently going through all the processes to do this,” stated Gaspar Martins.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.
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