Savvy has entered into a partnership with Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), the apex organization of the private sector in Kenya, which supports Kenyan businesses with opportunities for training, networking, financial linkages, mentorship and coaching, access to markets, value chains, and access to investment opportunities.
The partnership between Savvy and KEPSA is through the AJIRA Digital Program, a Government of Kenya initiative that seeks to position Kenya as a choice labor destination for multinational companies as well as grow and encourage local and regional companies and the public sector to create digital and digitally-enabled work.
According to Chidi Nwaogu of Savvy, “Our partnership with KEPSA through the Ajira Digital Platform seeks to train an additional 1,000 young Kenyans to build sustainable and innovative impact-driven businesses.” He continued, “Having trained and supported 506 Kenyan entrepreneurs already, through the Savvy program, our partnership with KEPSA seeks to take that number to at least 1,500 Kenyan entrepreneurs by the end of 2022. By providing these entrepreneurs with training in business development, communications, and product design, Savvy will support them to become successful entrepreneurs and changemakers in Kenya and on the African continent.”
According to Rachel Gathu of KEPSA, “KEPSA is constantly facilitating linkage between organizations like Savvy, to create lasting and meaningful partnerships to add value to each other.” She continued, “Ajira is an initiative of the Government of Kenya under the Ministry of ICT, Innovations, and Youth Affairs that is being funded by Mastercard Foundation and implemented by different partners including KEPSA. The project’s mission is to enable 5 million Kenyans to access locally available digital and digitally-enabled jobs through linkages and digital skills training.”
Backed by the Roddenberry Foundation, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and the International Telecommunication Union, Savvy was founded to help at least 100,000 unemployed professionals around the world transition into entrepreneurship by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, tools, resources, support network, and community to build sustainable, innovative, and profitable impact-driven businesses, as a way to reduce global unemployment that has been broadened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Available in 111 languages, the Savvy program has received over 90,000 applications, and as of writing, has selected and trained over 7,500 individuals in 156 countries, who have gone on to build over 2,200 businesses across diverse sectors in different regions.
