Four startups helping young people across Africa find jobs, build careers, and prepare for the future of work were selected to receive US$20,000 in funding at the culmination of the first Future of Work Africa accelerator programme run by Village Capital with support from IFC and Moody’s Foundation.
Since 2009, Village Capital has supported more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs through its investment readiness programme, while the VilCap Investments fund has invested in more than 110 programme graduates.
Its most recent programme, launched in partnership with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Moody’s Foundation, and reported by Disrupt Africa in December, was Future of Work Africa, an accelerator for startups that are working to address high levels of unemployment across the continent.
Twenty-three startups were selected to take part, and now four winners have been peer-selected, securing US$20,000 each in funding from IFC.
The winning startups were Nigeria’s Terawork, a one-stop freelance marketplace helping African talent earn income globally through freelancing, Sierra Leone’s Mosabi, which links fintech and ed-tech with embedded, gamified upskilling for Africa’s financial products and platforms; Benin’s Irawo, a digital community that provides tools, resources, and education to help young Africans unlock their highest potential and monetise their unique skills; and the Mauritius-based CoffeeChat, a coaching-as-a-service platform that enables companies to offer one-on-one executive coaching for their managers across Africa.
“This is our first Future of Work initiative and I hope it is the first of many. It has been a pleasure working with this group of founders solving such a critical challenge for the continent. I am glad to see such innovative solutions being built and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to support and elevate these ventures as we continue to expand our scope of work in this space,” said Audrey Mate, programme manager for Africa at Village Capital.
