Mastercard Foundation’s Support for African Youth in the Digital Economy

Partnership for Digital Access in Africa

The Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA) was created in 2024 to bring together private and public sector leaders from Africa, the United States, and other parts of the world to bridge Africa’s digital divide. PDAA has set an ambitious goal to double the number of people connected to, and meaningfully using, the internet in Africa from 40% to 80%, connecting one billion people by 2030, and to increase connectivity for women and girls from 30% to 80%.

PDAA Core Pillars

The initiative has three core pillars:

1. Expansion of affordable internet and broadband services to as many Africans as possible.

2. Lower cost devices to ensure an equitable gender ratio of those who access devices with the goal of increasing connectivity for women and girls in Africa.

3. Enhancement of digital skills through upskilling of millions of Africans to effectively and efficiently use digital technology to maximize their chances of meaningful employment.

PDAA Partners

Partners currently include the International Finance Corporation, Smart Africa, America’s Frontier Fund, African Leadership Group, LifeHikes, SpaceX, HMD Global, Nokia and the Mastercard Foundation. This partnership will contribute to the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million young men and women in Africa to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. As a member of PDAA, the Foundation will lead the pillar on the enhancement of Digital Skills.

Equipping Young Africans: The World’s Future Workforce

The digital economy will empower African entrepreneurship and businesses. The IFC estimates that potential business-to-business and business-to-government opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa could generate $120 billion in revenue. To realize this potential, 625 million people with digital skills will be needed. By 2050, approximately 40% of the world’s population under 18 will have been born and raised in Africa, positioning them to become the world’s digital skills workforce.

Consistent with its Young Africa Works strategy, the Mastercard Foundation has already committed and is deploying over $770 million in Africa to digitally empower young people. Programs cover the following:

1. Digital Skills Development: This includes enabling support for institutions to deliver digital skills and STEM training, working with partners such as the African Leadership Group, Emobilis, Moringa schools, Harambee, and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Africa. These programs enable young people to transition into work, including technology-related careers. Examples include:

In Kenya, the Foundation is working with Emobilis to support a national initiative driven by Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications, and Technology to enable 1 million youth to access digital job opportunities.
An endowment was provided to Carnegie Mellon University Africa that has established a Center for Digital Inclusion, which is working with universities across Africa to develop digital talent and digital entrepreneurs.

2. Digital Entrepreneurship: Foundation programs are enabling entrepreneurs across multiple sectors such as FinTech, AgriTech, EdTech and HealthTech. For example, a partnership with the Africa Founders Ventures (AFV) Program, provides technical support and pre-seed capital to at least 100 high-potential, primarily women-led, African ventures. AFV offers a digital learning platform to develop the skills and ideas of more than 5,000 aspiring African entrepreneurs through a venture design academy.

3. Higher Education E-Learning and STEM: Partnerships with African universities are strengthening academic programs dedicated to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Eleven institutions are enhancing their capability in instructional design and online pedagogy as well as developing online content.

4. Education Technology (EdTech): The Foundation’s Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning is enabling African countries to leapfrog into best-in-class EdTech solutions to reach all learners and improve learning outcomes. The Centre works with EdTech hubs and entrepreneurs across the continent. More than 40 EdTech ventures have been supported to date. In addition, the program supports learning institutions to integrate high-quality, culturally relevant, and inclusive EdTech solutions into their curriculum.

5. Digital Economy Research: Research is underway to answer critical questions about the technology sector and its impact. The Africa Youth Employment Clock was launched in 2024 and uses advanced data modelling and visualization to provide real-time job growth and forecasts of employment trends in Africa. These data are disaggregated by key variables such as employment status, age, gender, and sector, up to 2030.

Looking Ahead

The Mastercard Foundation intends to scale up its digital skilling programs. Based on demand from employers and economic sectors, these programs will skill and enable young people from economically marginalized communities to access local and global work opportunities. We will continue to support and scale the integration of technology into education to enable social inclusion and resilience.