Is this you?
If any of these describe you, there’s a place for you here.
Never went to school, or never finished? Not working, not studying, or don’t know what’s next? This is where you can start.
Get startedYou’ve finished school or university, but the work you prepared for isn’t there, and nobody has shown you another way in.
You have an idea for a business or a project, but no mentor, no network and no way to reach the people who fund ideas like yours.
You already lead among your peers, yet you’re rarely asked for your view when decisions about young people are made.
You were given a chance yourself, and now you want to open the door for the young people coming after you.
What we are
We’re the bridge between what young people are capable of and what they’re able to reach.
We build the skills, relationships and routes into work, enterprise and public life that turn potential into results, working alongside the schools, funders, employers and governments that already serve young people.
The challenge
Africa is young. Too many of its young people are locked out.
60%
of Africans are under 25, the youngest population of any continent
3 million
formal jobs created each year, for the 10 to 12 million young Africans entering the job market
1 in 5
young people in sub-Saharan Africa, and almost 1 in 3 in North Africa, are not in work, education or training
Sources: UN Economic Commission for Africa; African Development Bank; ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026.
How it works
One pathway, not a menu of programmes.
The Accelerator Pathway takes young people from a first step to leading others, and grows through the people it develops.
Engage
Free, open entry points for any young person, anywhere.
Open to allBuild
Intensive skills and enterprise programmes.
By applicationLead
A selective fellowship in leadership and policy.
SelectiveMultiply
Alumni become mentors, trainers, chapter leaders and partners.
Give back
What we do
Four pillars that turn learning into jobs, ventures and influence.
Develop
TodayOur anchor. Leadership, enterprise, financial and civic skills, with support for wellbeing.
Connect
TomorrowMentors, peers and an alumni network that grows stronger with every cohort.
Open
TodayPathways into jobs, placements and capital with employers, investors and institutions.
Amplify
TomorrowYoung people’s evidence and ideas carried into policy dialogue and public life.
Today: skills, income and opportunity now. Tomorrow: networks and a collective voice that compound over time.
Find your place
Start where you are. Move on when you’re ready.
There’s more than one way to be part of Youth Accelerator, and none of them is a ladder.
What we stand for
Values written as behaviours, not slogans.
Youth-led
Young people lead here, with full-vote seats on our board.
Bold excellence
World-class standards, defined on African terms.
Every young person
We reach beyond the visible few, with targets for those most often left out.
Integrity
We account for every gift and publish our results openly.
Agency in action
Every programme ends with young people acting on what they’ve learned.
Learning by evidence
We measure, admit what isn’t working and adapt quickly.
Questions
Honest answers before you start.
Who can join?
Young people across Africa, with our reach growing country by country. We give particular priority to young women, rural and underprivileged youth, young people with disabilities, those working outside the formal economy, and those without a degree or any formal education.
Do I need a degree or previous experience?
No. Our entry points are open to young people at every level of education, including those who have never been to school.
How are participants chosen?
Engage is open to everyone. For Build and Lead, we select through an application process with targets that make sure young women, rural youth, young people with disabilities and those without formal education are fairly represented.
How do you account for the money you receive?
We publish our finances and results openly, and reflect on what is and isn’t working in an annual learning review that we share with our partners.