WHO WE ARE;
I-TRAIN AFRICA FOUNDATION
I-Train Africa Foundation is a non-profit that focuses on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth).
Our organization was established with a visionary purpose – to bridge the skills, knowledge, and information gap lacking in formal education but needed in the 21st-century labour market. We do this by equipping African youth, women, and professionals with the clarity, information, knowledge, skills, and networks they need to thrive and become global citizens.
OUR AIM
We aim to make youth, women, and professionals become self-aware of how they can contribute to the global goals and sustainability of the world we all live in, as many Africans lack the requisite information about these.
OUR VISION
To build and foster an ecosystem of African youth who possess the clarity, knowledge and, skills required to shape the future we aspire to build.
OUR MISSION
To help 10 million African youths, women and professionals gain clarity, upskill, and become tech-savvy, globally visible, sustainability champions and global citizens by 2030 by offering them simplified knowledge, information, and mentorship on how they access global opportunities.
OUR PROGRAMS
The global mentorship conference
Africa, a continent rich in history, cultures, and with over a billion people, is currently undergoing a revolution, led by its remarkable women. Despite traditional norms often downplaying their contributions, Africa’s landscape today tells a different tale. In 2021, women occupied 24% of senior roles in African businesses, a significant rise from 5% in the early 2000s. Countries like Rwanda and South Africa have been trailblazers, boasting over 30% representation of women in senior management positions.
This transformation is evident in sectors such as education (UNESCO reported in 2020 that women constitute around 30% of researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa, surpassing the world average of 28%), business (Uganda (38.2%), Botswana (38.5%), and Ghana (37.9%) rank among the global leaders in women business ownership, according to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2019), and the corporate world (Africa’s corporate landscape is shifting; Nigeria has 22% women board directors, while Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed firms in South Africa have 23.5% women on their boards).
In line with its Agenda 2063, the African Union has set a robust goal of achieving 50% women representation in decision-making roles across private and public sectors. With nations like Ethiopia already having a female president and Rwanda demonstrating a majority female parliament, the momentum is undeniably building.
While the statistics are encouraging, it’s crucial to also acknowledge the obstacles. Gender pay disparities, societal norms, cultural biases, skewed policies, limited mentorship opportunities, demanding family responsibilities, restricted access to global networks, lack of funding for women entrepreneurs, and workplace prejudices are daily realities for many African women.
However, there’s a silver lining – the mere acknowledgment, discussion, and debate of these issues indicate their recognition of potential change. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations are diligently working to foster an environment where women can excel in their professional pursuits. In light of this, we at I-Train Africa are taking the lead in addressing some of these challenges through the Global Mentorship Conference.
It is a conference tailored to equip African women, and youths with clarity, direction, networking opportunities, mentorship, and leadership training. We aim to empower women and youths to take on leadership roles and drive worldwide sustainable development and inclusive growth.
MENTORSHIP BOOTCAMP PROGRAM
“This is a 13-week behavioural change program with a mission to encourage individuals to first change to lead themselves, then to lead teams then to lead nations. This one-of-its-kind program content was delivered by the I-Train Africa Foundation in the year 2021 to over 1,000 selected youths from over 20+ countries.
Past Event
About the global mentorship conference for african youths held On oct 16, 2021
With half of Africa’s population under the age of twenty-five, it is impossible to gainsay that Africa is the world’s largest reservoir of youths. However, the huge potential of global domination that comes with this abundance of youths has not been reached. Frankly speaking, we have barely scratched the surface. To even begin with, most of these youths are unemployed: Africa has a youth unemployment rate of 77%. This is partly due to a lack of quality education; around 89 million youth are out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, there are about 25 million unemployed graduates in Nigeria alone.
This means that the problem is not limited to lack of education, but extends to lack of clarity and direction, lack of information and exposure, lack of soft skills, and lack of technical skills.
The conference was designed to give African youths clarity and enlighten them about the vast opportunities available to them, the skills they need to acquire to compete favourably to secure these opportunities, where those skills can be acquired, and how these opportunities can be utilized for their development and that of Africa/Globe.
Hence, the theme of the global conference 2021 was “Unleashing the Potential of African Youth to Become Sustainability Champions & Global Citizens”
The goal of the “By and for Youth” conference was to provide group mentoring to 50,000 African youths via the conference. Ito set a tone that centred around CLARITY, DIRECTION, MENTORSHIP, SOFT/LIFE SKILLS and NETWORKING at this conference.
The online conference hosted speakers and panellists from 6 continents and 20+ countries. Participants that attended were from 30+ African countries
