Startimes partners SOS Children’s Villages to enhance youth employability

StarTimes and SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at supporting vulnerable families on the empowerment of young adults, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The MOU will see StarTimes support SOS Children’s Villages programmes in Nigeria, specifically in broadening local learning opportunities and extending diverse industry experiences to youths from SOS Children’s Villages programmes. 

This will include technical and vocational skills training and mentorship, while driving access to digital television in the programmes and exposing beneficiaries to learning on the StarTimes platform.

In Nigeria, statistics show that 42 million people aged between 15 and 24 years, comprising more than 20% of the total population.Demographic rates are growing fast, which will increase the pressure the country faces in terms of job creation. Of this, youth make up 81.2% of the working-age population, but 33.1% of the total number of unemployed.

Speaking on the partnership, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, Mr Eghosa Erhumwunse, said: “By partnering with StarTimes, SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria is helping to improve the lives of young people in the country and helping them realize and utilize their unique gifts, and this is in cognizance of the YouthCan project which was launched by SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria in 2017.”

Also commenting, Chief Executive Officer of StarTimes Nigeria, Justin Zhang, noted that the company remains committed to empowering African youths with the right skills set to excel. 

“Since we commenced providing affordable digital Pay-Tv in Nigeria, we have invested heavily in the development of youths and children in the country. Partnering with SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria gives us a better opportunity to drive our CSR effort towards making Nigerian youths more competitive globally in their chosen career by affording them a quality learning ground.

“For young people in or coming out of alternative care, their first job is not only the first step towards independence but often a matter of survival, the difference between an independent life lived with dignity and a life plagued with further difficulties,” he said.