The Mastercard Foundation and The African Talent Company (TATC) has expanded its youth employment initiative to East Africa.
Since 2020, The African Talent Company (TATC), through Jobberman Nigeria, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, under the Young Africa Works Strategy, has successfully trained over 2.4 million young Nigerians. It has facilitated more than 600,000 job placements, advancing inclusive, dignified work opportunities across the country.
This partnership has applied a community-based model and low-bandwidth digital solutions to ensure broad accessibility, especially for underserved youth aged 18 to 35.
Recently in Nigeria, Jobberman convened the Technology and Employment Inclusion in Marginalised Contexts (TEIMC) Roundtable in Abuja, shifting the focus to some of the continent’s most vulnerable youth: women in disadvantaged communities, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The event brought together leaders from across government, civil society, tech platforms, and the private sector to tackle the structural and digital barriers these groups face in accessing employment opportunities.
The Roundtable also marked the launch of a groundbreaking report: Technology and Employment Inclusion in Marginalised Contexts, which revealed that while 72% of employers in Nigeria make no effort toward inclusive hiring, digital tools and remote work are beginning to create new entry points for underserved populations. Notably, 55% of PWDs and 44% of displaced women surveyed had secured some form of work, mainly through self-employment in creative media and agriculture sectors.
“Inclusion is not a side conversation, it is the main agenda,” said Rosy Fynn, Country Director, Mastercard Foundation Nigeria. “We must design systems where marginalised groups are not just considered, but centred.”
The roundtable’s policy briefs and programme recommendations will inform the Young Africa Works learning agenda and guide future employer training, platform design, and inclusive employment programming.
Building on this five-year partnership in Nigeria, impact activities are underway in BrighterMonday Kenya and BrighterMonday Uganda, as the Mastercard Foundation and The African Talent Company extend efforts to scale inclusive youth employment solutions across the continent. The deepened partnership is already delivering results. In Kampala, BrighterMonday Uganda hosted a Career Clinic that brought together government and private sector leaders under the theme Skills For Today: Empowering Uganda’s Youth To Take Control Of Their Future. Young job seekers accessed CV reviews, coaching, and digital skills training, reinforcing the initiative’s commitment to hands-on, work-readiness programming.