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Rockefeller Foundation to Host Convening in Impact Sourcing As a Business Model for Advancing Youth Employment in Africa

JOHANNESBURG—Global youth unemployment has become the primary focus of governments. Nowhere has this issue become more pressing than in Africa, a continent with the youngest population in the world with nearly 200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24. It is estimated that by 2045 this number will have doubled.

To harness this demographic dividend, a collaborative approach to job creation between the private and the public sector will need greater establishment. Additionally, there have been transformative developments particularly in Africa’s information communication technology sectors, creating new industries that have the potential for significant job creation.

The Rockefeller Foundation through its initiative, Digital Jobs Africa, has partnered with key stakeholders in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector to drive and accelerate ‘impact sourcing’. Impact sourcing is the socially responsible arm of the business process and information technology outsourcing industry that employs individuals who would otherwise not have an opportunity for sustainable employment.

The growth of the digital service sector and the BPO sector in Africa provides an unprecedented chance to create more employment opportunities than ever before for thousands of young people. The Foundation believes there is incredible promise in the growth of impact sourcing as a way to train, employ and sustain a disadvantaged youth population that would otherwise be trapped in a cycle of unemployment and poverty.

Join The Rockefeller Foundation and key government and industry stakeholders on November 13 and 14 as they showcase the business case for impact sourcing thereby catalyzing more jobs for youth in the BPO sector as well as exploring the positive benefits that impact sourcing has had on the lives of young people throughout Africa.

Impact Sourcing at Scale: Moving from Ideas to Practice Conference will bring together delegates from government, partner organizations and grantees to learn, debate, and build networks aimed at growing impact sourcing as a way of tackling youth employment

About The Rockefeller Foundation

For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas—advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities—to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. For more information, please visit rockefellerfoundation.org.

About Potters hand Activations

Potters Hand Activations is a well-established Activations Company that specializes in the conceptual and logistical requirements surrounding the broad spectrum of the events arena and the experiential marketing domain. Potters Hand Activations is over 11 years old, is 30% female black owned, with a global reach and is a level 1 BBBEE contributor. We specialize in Experiential Marketing Solutions which involves a defined and strategically relevant brand experience that brings the brand proposition to life. We approach every new project with the view to developing face-to-face communication solutions, which allows your target audience to get a better sense of your brand, to appeal to the visceral and to act in accordance with your brand values. For more information, please visit www.pottershand.co.za.

For more information, please contact:

Thuli Zulu/ Kitso Kgaboesele, media@pottershand.co.za