The Future Project (TFP) in partnership with Nigeria’s leading jobs portal, Jobberman.com has formally announced its employability programme, Intern4Jobs which will up-skill and connect at least 100,000 young West Africans to jobs and job opportunities through internships over the next two years.
“There are 64 million youths in Nigeria (under-35). Over 54 percent of that population is unemployed according to the National Bureau of Statistics,” said Ayodeji Adewunmi who is chief executive of Jobberman. “Over 200,000 number of young people come out of school each year. Over 90 percent of them are unable to find jobs. For a country already suffering violence, crime and acute insecurity, this is a crisis. And all hands need to be on deck to own the solution to this problem.”
Mfon Ekpo, Chief Operating Officer of TFP and a Fellow of President Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship, added: “Young people are mostly tired of motivation and nice words – they want to see the opportunities that exist and take advantage of them.
“We at The Future Project have always been conscious of this imperative – launching The Future Enterprise Support Scheme in 2008 to help young people be upskilled/trained, learn on the job and be supported to grow in their careers. Over 40% of our interns from 2008 – 2010 were connected with jobs in that period.”
Following TFP’s experience with TFESS as well as its employability portal, Aiki.ng presented in partnership with Microsoft, it has aggressively scaled up the internship programme – structuring it as Intern4Jobs.
Its goal is two-fold:
- Give youth the practical skills they need to get jobs.
- Give youth a foot in the (job market) door they would otherwise not have gotten.
It achieves this goal through its network of Internship Partners who take on young graduates into their firms and train them on the job for a period of 3 – 6 months.
The on-the-job training is structured to ensure that the interns are employable and are able to take up jobs within a month of their training being concluded – through a structured curriculum and a network of Mentor4Jobs and Coach4Jobs to closely supervise them.
To apply, young people who are aged 35 and below and who are graduates of a tertiary institution should email [email protected] with their CVs and a 250-word cover letter on ‘Why I am ready for a job’. The title of the mail should read ‘Intern4Jobs – Application’.
Applicants should be between 18 and 35.
“Intern4Jobs, which focuses on young people who want to build careers directly complements our #StartupsAfrica programme which focuses on building those who want to be entrepreneurs,” Ekpo said. “Together we are determined to secure the continent through enterprise and jobs.”
For more information, The Future Project can be reached by phone on+2348022226712, via email on [email protected], on Twitter & Instagram via @TFAAfrica and on Facebook via /TheFutureAwards.
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