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We are a youth-led movement to end unemployment in West Africa. We invest in the entrepreneurship ecosystem to ignite social change.
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Africa has the youngest population in the world.
200 million people are between the ages of 15 and 24 —
this is equivalent to 2/3 of the U.S. population.
60% of youth in Africa are unemployed.
13 million more youth are expected to enter
the job market in the next ten years.
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OUR THEORY OF CHANGE
We support the development of African entrepreneurs who build African products for African markets. Our entrepreneurs maintain ownership of their businesses, creating lasting value and development for the region. We bring the West African perspective to global conversations. Our ambition is to pass complete control of all country operations to local managers.
We use leading techniques and new technologies to empower entrepreneurs to create viable business solutions to community challenges. Innovation is a call to action. Whether new to the world or new to a market, the transformational businesses that our entrepreneurs create will show the world the indispensable importance of youth for achieving socio-economic growth.
We are indefatigable advocates for the user experience. We seek inspiration from the real people that our innovations will touch. We view technological, infrastructural, and societal constraints as opportunities to design solutions that deliver benefits seamlessly and delightfully. We don’t create in a lab, but in the real world, testing early and often, and celebrating each failure as learning. We are empathetic, ingenious problem solvers striving to make tomorrow’s world better than today’s.
Dare to Innovate believes that social enterprises that combine ingenuity with a sound business model are a powerful lever for both catalyzing and sustaining change to address systemic problems.
Dare to Innovate believes that the collective wisdom of multi-stakeholder groups can set the direction for an organization better than any expert. We value diversity and leverage cross-cultural, cross-sector collaborations to drive innovation and accelerate impact.
Dare to Innovate protects its impact from the uncertainty of donations and grants by striving toward profitability in itself and the businesses it touches.
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WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED SO FAR
8000
YOUTH TRAINED IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
450
JOBS CREATED
60
BUSINESSES STARTED
(AND STILL ACTIVE)
$400k
SEED FUNDING
INVESTED
WHAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT
“Tu es chinois?” “Are you Chinese?” I got this a lot during my time in Guinea, a French-speaking country in West Africa. And no, it’s not Papua New Guinea.
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