Zuhura Innovations Africa is a woman-led Social Impact Organisation that supports and empowers young people to become change-makers by designing and implementing innovative, impactful, and sustainable solutions to address issues affecting their communities. They are committed to facilitating youth in innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology.
The organisation concentrates on youth agendas because of the vast percentage of Africans aged between 15 and 24. Africa has the youngest population worldwide, with upwards of 200 million people in that age range. And according to statistics, the population might reach 400 million by 2045. As a result, they need additional support.
Muriel Akiko, the Hub Manager said, “Despite Being a young women-led organisation, at Zuhura Africa, we understand the challenges facing Africa’s youth. For this reason, we are champions for promoting both entrepreneurship, business scale-up, and innovation to support Africa’s youth as a whole.”
Since it first started its operations, several programs have been implemented by the company, including the Africa Basque Challenge (ABC), an entrepreneurship experience in which young people from different countries collaborate to create social enterprises that address issues affecting their communities.
The program began in November 2018 and ended in February 2019, including 48 innovators from Kenya, Somalia, and the Basque region, among other countries (autonomous community of Spain). During the Bootcamp, participants spent six days in Kenya and one week in the Basque Country. Young people were encouraged to co-create and turn their ideas into viable businesses as part of the challenge.
A total of 11 companies were formed by multidisciplinary teams after the session. Potential investors were introduced to the project ideas by the teams, and the winning teams were awarded 15,000 euros. They are currently putting on the third edition, aimed toward young people in Kenya and Senegal.
Akiko also affirmed that Zuhura has partnered with UNICEF in their global program, UPSHIFT, which helps youth in technology and innovation by digitising the program for the Kenyan youth. The program began in October and will conclude in Feb 2022, where the selected project team shall receive seed funding, and the remaining teams will be guided on how to get funding from government and private investors who believe in their cause.