African Pathfinder Leaders Initiative (APLI) is a youth development organization started in 2018 to build bridges of opportunity to ensure that youth have access to skills, resources and networks to achieve their personal goals and actively contribute to development in their communities and beyond.
The Problem
Namibia’s current youth unemployment rate is 46.1%. Jobs are scarce and a university degree no longer guarantees employment. Entry-level jobs are highly competitive and require three to five years of work experience.
Certain industries are flooded graduates than workplaces can absorb, whilst other expected skills and competencies remain mismatched to the taught knowledge of a bachelor’s degree.
The young job-seeking professional and the individual that tests their idea each need support: the former to “set themselves apart” in the pool of the unemployed, and to distinguish their value to the company.
The latter seeks to exploit opportunities, to test innovations, to gain access to market, and build a solid brand. These goals consume young entrepreneurs for much of their early journey.
With such a crisis, it is only natural that we turn to self-employment as a means of income.
Entrepreneurs are habitually prone to an overreliance on external capital, inflating market size, neglecting customer relationships and key partners outside of government.
APLI’s value proposition is to merge the approaches of the aforementioned problem statements. While acknowledging that youth gain technical expertise and knowledge from their informal settings, educational institutions and workplaces, APLI supplements these with comprehensive personal and professional development programmes. These programmes are conscious of the holistic individual, mindful of their aspirations and the context they live and work in.
Our True North
01
Nurturing leadership, personal development and social responsibility amongst youth.
02
Creating a community of like-minded individuals, conscious of their role in building back better.
03
Support youth to start and scale robust, sustainable and profitable businesses and social enterprises.
04
Connecting youth to industry leaders, financers and entrepreneurs for funding, mentorship and development opportunities.