The Next Economy empowers youth in Nigeria, to unleash their talents, build their confidence and hone the skills they need for a successful career in a job or as an entrepreneur.

To accommodate the diverse ambitions of young people entering the labor market and together with our local partners, we offer The Next Economy Programme.

Young people are empowered to transition from education to working life through employment opportunities or entrepreneurial ventures.

The Next Economy is an initiative of SOS Children’s Villages CV, Crosswise Works and GoodUp and is being funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The program will run in Lagos, Abuja, Jos (Nigeria), Bamako (Mali), Hargeisa (Somaliland), and Mogadishu (Somalia) and will focus on youth development and empowerment in these regions.

The Next Economy training module consists of 4 Key Focus Areas highlighted below:

Core Life Skills Training: The core life skills training is a very impactful programme that is designed to expose young Africans to various soft skills needed for personal development to either start and build a career in a job or start an enterprise.

With this training, the youth will be well equipped and informed to make profitable decisions including choosing between the employability and the entrepreneurship trajectories.

Employability Training: This training further provides a mix of soft & job readiness skills to support entry into the labour market. Youths who go through the employability trajectory obtain relevant skills required for employment in a company.

Through individual support provided by a coach, the youth critically reflect on your personal career perspectives and identify opportunities for an internship or learning-on-the-job.

Entrepreneurship Training: The entrepreneurship training is a twelve (12) week intense and hands-on training designed to provide knowledge about ideation, innovation and creativity with special focus on how to raise seed capital for business growth and sustainability.

Incubation Training: The Next Economy Incubation programme is focused on startups in the early stage of business who are investor-ready and are seeking new partnerships and investments to scale their businesses. This training focuses on business growth and sustainability and seeks to make them more profitable.