Mastercard Foundation to Empower Nigerian Digital and Creative Sector with $500 Million Investment

It is not news that Nigerian startups are working hard, raising funds, scaling their products and offerings to a wider audience in the country and beyond. This has made the country’s startups some of the most viable in Africa.

A fund raising trail that is hard to miss keeps coming out across the country’s tech space, particularly in the fintech sector. With the raising of funds notwithstanding, the Nigerian skill space is still very much in need of development.

This is the reason why the MasterCard Foundation recently increased the amount it is committing to the Young Africa Works Program in Nigeria to $500 million. The focus of the program is to improve the ways that youths work in the Agriculture, Digital and Creative sectors.

The Nigerian hub will be joining other existing hubs in Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, Ethiopia and Uganda. Following the footsteps of the Foundation in the existing hubs, the hub in Nigeria will also work to promote learning and increase financial inclusion for the people living in poverty.

According to the Nigerian Country Head for the MasterCard Foundation, Chidinma Lawanson, the Foundation is partnering with relevant organizations in the country to achieve its goal.

In the Agriculture sector, one of such partners is Babban Gona, an agric franchise that helps to solve challenges that prevent farmers from scaling in their agribusiness.

“The Babban Gona model uses training and education, access to financing, and a gainful source of income to ensure young people have the tools and skills they need to prosper.”

Chidinma Lawanson, Country Head for MasterCard Foundation, Nigeria.

Using technology in these sectors especially in the creative and digital sectors, young people will be trained to work smarter and produce better results. Being more equipped, the youths will have increasingly more to offer startups and established companies in the country.

Speaking on the impact this will have on Africa as a continent, the Foundation emphasized that “with the right skills, training, and education, young people will contribute to Africa’s global competitiveness and improve their lives and those of their communities and countries.”

By ensuring that the youths, who are projected to reach 375 million by 2030, have relevant skills to offer the startups and local businesses, MasterCard through its foundation would have contributed to changing the nature of work, in Nigeria and Africa.