President Sahle-work Discuses with CEO of Mastercard Foundation

Addis Ababa January 03/2019 President Sahle-Work Zewde held discussion with CEO of Mastercard Foundation, Reeta Roy today on the Foundation’s plan to enhance employment for young people in Ethiopia.

The closed door discussion between the two sides was focused on the strategy of the foundation that aimed at increasing financial inclusion and access to youth learning in Africa.

The strategy called, ‘Young Africa Works’ aimed to enable 30 million African youth, particularly young women to secure dignified employment.

After the discussion the CEO told reporters that Ethiopia is one of the 10 African countries that are selected for the project since 70 percent of the population is youth and the unemployment rate is high.

Moreover, the ongoing reform in the country that aimed at ensuring socio-economic inclusiveness is also the factor that enabled the country to be selected, she added.

The exact number of the youth in Ethiopia to benefit from the project is yet to be disclosed but they will certainly be included in 30 million in Africa which are expected to benefit from the project, the CEO said. 

Mastercard Foundation has been working in Ethiopia since 2012 on education, access to finance to small scale enterprises and training on digital technology.

Some 650,000 people have benefited from the project so far, Reeta said.

The Mastercard Foundation, created in 2006 by Mastercard International, have partnered with over 130 organizations to increase financial inclusion and access to youth learning in Africa with commitments of over 2.2 billion U.S. dollars.

One of its initiatives, the Young Africa Works strategy sets out an ambitious goal for the next decade enabling 30 million young people to secure dignified employment.