FROM GEN’s LAB TO UNLEASH LAB- How we use the Social Mobility Enterprise concept and technology to tackle unemployment & poor performance.

It’s not news that one of the major challenges confronting Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of over 180 million people is unemployment. With more than half its people under the age 30 and an unemployment rate of 14.2% (National Bureau of Statistics, 2016), this situation calls for a timely and sustainable solution.

At GEN, it took us about three years to properly understand the nature of the problem- we identified a global skills gap; where many youths leave school (as graduates or dropouts) and are unable to integrate into the formal sector job market and though employers are unable to find qualified hires, they remain unwilling to invest in on-the-job training for potential employees.

To bridge this gap of unemployment and lack of opportunity that has inflicted the youth in our society, we at GEN have traversed several approaches. The lessons we learned from experience helped us conceptualize an all-encompassing solution — to build socially responsible youth-run businesses that sustainably create paths out of poverty for young people by helping them build skills, income and savings. We call this the social mobility enterprise™.

The social mobility enterprise tackles youth unemployment and transforms communities by adopting a design and business model that sustainably and simultaneously achieves the following:

1. Employs “trapped talent” immediately: gives them a job FIRST

2. Generates revenue through youth immediately: critical for sustainability

3. Builds in a career path: complete with defined training, skill acquisition and viable exit options

4. Monitors and directs necessary mindset changes: Yes. Monitor first, direct second

Zest, one of our youth-run Social Mobility Enterprises

UNLEASH is a global innovation lab that brings together people from all over the world to share personal insights & ideas, and build lasting global networks towards achieving scalable solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals. Since 2011, we have spent over 5 years investing in more than 1000 micro-enterprises in Lagos and Osun states, Nigeria and New Delhi, India. Through partnerships with the World Bank, local & state governments and private sector, we trained over 300 youth and incubated 25+ businesses that have created 50+ jobs, resulting in average income increases of 13x.

Our co-founders Clara and Bunmi would be present at #UNLEASHLAB2017 to share ideas on education and ICT. They will share the concept and model of the Social Mobility Enterprise which we developed and adopted. We believe that youths can be agents of change and economic development in their communities. Our vision is to actualize a global network of sustainable, profitable youth-run businesses, creating skills, livelihoods, and community wealth.

In addition, we have created a technology tool “SkillNav” designed to help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) manage the quality of service their staff deliver as well as serve as a platform that allows low-skilled youth to move up the socio-economic ladder, by working and improving their skills to earn higher incomes.

We are indeed very delighted to be participating in this year’s UNLEASH and we look forward to an awesome time to exchange ideas and collaborate with other SDGs front liners.

GenerationEnterprise

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Investing in at-risk youth. Incubating bright ideas. Transforming communities. RT ≠ endorsements. Check out our blog: http://genterpriser.wordpress.com/

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