The Mastercard Foundation wants to create 30 million jobs in Africa by 2030

“We want our programs to be catalysts,” said Serge-Auguste Kouakou, director of the Mastercard Foundation in the UEMOA countries.

The foundation seeks to “stimulate the creation of dignified and fulfilling jobs within the modern and sustainable agri-food sector,” Mr. Kouakou pointed out, presenting the results of Mastercard’s “Suqali” program, which aims to facilitate access to financing for agricultural entrepreneurs.

A budget of 27.4 billion CFA francs is planned to finance this initiative in eight UEMOA countries, in which 6 million jobs will be created. “The Dakar office, which covers the UEMOA zone, aims to support more than 6 million young people, including 70% women, in creating jobs by 2030 in the agro-industrial sector,” said Serge-Auguste Kouakou.

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Another 24 million jobs will be created in other regions of Africa, he said. “Our interventions revolve around five axes,” said Mr Kouakou, citing the development of value chains, entrepreneurship, capacity building and digital transformation.

The Mastercard Foundation is presented by its leaders as a charitable organization dedicated to “alleviating poverty” and promoting education.

Its “Suqali” program, which has been implemented since 2020, benefits 16,656 micro-entrepreneurs and 1,471 SMEs, according to foundation officials. “Suqali is a program implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic […] The foundation wanted to support microenterprises that are most affected due to their fragility,” explained Mame Awa Mbaye, Mastercard Foundation employee responsible for the access to finance component.

This program has created 38,067 jobs, including 28,050 for youth, with funding of more than 10 billion CFA francs, according to the charitable foundation.