era92 elevate

Our social impact goal is to reach 1000 youth in Uganda & Kenya by the end of 2022. To scale our impact, we are doing two things. 

We are in the process of building era92 Global- a multifaceted digital platform that trains youth online and connects them to outsourcing partners across the globe. It's the most sustainable way to develop global partnerships & get as many youths as possible into employment. 

The second is that we aim to establish Community Elevate Learning Hubs to allow as many youths to access quality education from wherever they are.  Right now, we are in the process to scale and reach out to millions of underprivileged youth in formerly war-torn areas like Gulu in Northern Uganda. There is a generation of young people that missed out on the opportunity on education for over 20 years because of the war. With the establishment of the Elevate Learning Hub prototype in Gulu, we can help bridge the opportunity gap and give youth quality jobs.

When selected as a winner, we will use our Elevate Prize funding to develop & market our platform and build these community hubs in Kenya & Gulu.

I grew up on the streets, in one of the worst slums of Uganda called Kosovo. I was stealing and robbing in a gang I used to be a part of. When the leader of the gang was killed, I got a wake-up call. One of the church leaders in the community took me up & started nurturing me. When I turned sixteen, the missionary church in my community gifted me a computer that I used to teach myself Graphics Design. When I got really good at it, I started booking jobs, designing posters and slowly but steadily, I started living a better life. 

I had never thought of starting a company until a girl called Maeghan came to me looking for a job. Her father had broken his spinal cord and she had dropped out of school, with pressures to provide for the family, she was on the verge of selling her body. I promised that I would teach her web design and give her a job. Today, she’s the lead developer overseeing a team of 4.

Meaghan was the first person to prove to me that brilliance is equally distributed but opportunity is not.  Growing up there wasn’t a single organization tackling the problem of youth unemployment targeting young people in the slums. So, I started era92 to train and employ other disadvantaged youth in creative arts & technology so they can get empowered and move out of poverty. 

Africa is the youngest and fastest-growing continent in the world, but again it’s the poorest. By 2030, there will be 375 million young people in the job market in Africa. We’ve noticed a significant gap between the number of young people seeking work and the limited employment opportunities available to them. 

At era92 elevate, we are solving the problem of youth unemployment through training young people from the slums with digital skills and preparing them for entrepreneurial opportunities. We train youth in Graphics Design, Film, Web Design & Software Development supplemented with entrepreneurial boot camps.

Youth aged 15-35 years make up 88% of the resident population in the slums. Young people in these communities attribute their source of poverty to unemployment, low-wage jobs, drug abuse, tribalism, and unfavorable government policies. Africa's nearly 420 million youth aged 15-35, one-third is unemployed and discouraged, another third is vulnerably employed, and only 1 in 6 is in wage employment.  

We are challenging marginalization, low-wage jobs, and irrelevant education curriculums. Through a network of employment partners, we connect companies around the world to our top talent who then get into meaningful employment.

Our service delivery model is what makes our work innovative. We train youth in relevant digital skills on demand by organizations around the world. We realize that to succeed in the digital economy, we need to leverage digital tools at our disposal to scale our impact across Africa. 

Our vision 2025 denotes that in five years, we will have reached 10,000 youth connecting them to 50 outsourcing partners across the world. With a fully-fledged online Elevate Academy, we’ve developed an innovative way to impact as many youths as possible through a learning portal with courses and resources for first-time learners and professionals in the digital skills landscape and era92 Global- a marketplace to connect talents to quality jobs. 

With our digital platform coupled with physical community Elevate Hubs, we are creating ample space for young people to pick up industry-relevant skills and create innovative ideas through tech that can make the world a better place. 

These are the steps we take to achieve our social impact.

Recruitment: We seek out these at-risk young adults through community outreach programs in slums like Kosovo and interest them in our courses. 

Placement: We proceed with background screening and prioritize taking up as many girls. We explore their passions and place them in the classes of their choice. 

Resources: We have a study and research center- Elevate Hub where our students can access learning material and practice their craft. It holds a maximum capacity of 40 per day. We provide up-to-date computers with the latest software, internet, furniture, and cameras. 

Training and Skilling: Students go through a 6 months apprenticeship learning hands-on skills, from tutors, mentors, and industry professionals. They are mentored with life skills under leadership programs like 2moroAlive and develop business plans and pitches under the era92Ds program. 

Retention and Career Advancement: We retain a selected few to work with us and connect others to employment partners. 

Our service delivery model is effective because our processes are thorough and our programs not only skill young people with digital skills but also business skills because we are building a generation of job creators.