1,600 African youths to get £2.5 million from Shortlist and African Management Institute under the Energy Access Talent Initiative (EATI)
Shortlist (http://www.Shortlist.net/) and the African Management Institute (AMI) (https://www.AfricanManagers.org/) have announced the launch of the Energy Access Talent Initiative (EATI), a new £2.5 million partnership dedicated to training and securing employment in the clean energy sector for over 1,600 African youth across Sub-Saharan Africa. The effort aims to create a robust, diversified workforce of outstanding young people throughout Africa in order to increase access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and contemporary energy for all.
The new EATI initiative is financed by the UK government through the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform, and it builds on the success of Shortlist and AMI’s Off-Grid Talent Initiative (OGTI), which is also supported by TEA and the University of Cape Town (https://www.UCT.ac.za/). From 2019 to 2021, the OGTI programme assisted approximately 900 young professionals in over 100 energy enterprises across 23 African nations. The initiative had a 55% female participation rate, with 94% of Shortlist placements turning to permanent jobs and 99% of AMI’s management program participants reporting enhanced staff performance.
Education alone will no longer guarantee a job; young people must gain on-the-job experience. Shortlist CEO Paul Breloff stated, “Programs like this bridge the gap between education and real, career-track employment, and renewable energy and climate are poised to create more jobs on the continent than any other sector in the next decade.”
A significant barrier to scale in the emerging market clean energy sector is a lack of skilled talent prepared to manage rapid growth – a huge missed opportunity given the potential for Africa’s clean energy companies to both transform the continent’s climate future and create hundreds of thousands of jobs for youth.
AMI and Shortlist have pioneered a realistic, tested, and scalable talent development solution for the renewable energy market. The TEA funding renewal will allow us to scale this strategy and reach many more young professionals,” stated Rebecca Harrison, Co-Founder and CEO of AMI. “We’ve replaced traditional, ineffective hit-and-run training with a coherent approach to upskilling and job placement that will equip and inspire the next generation of African talent to accelerate Africa’s just energy transition,” said Rebecca Harrison, AMI’s cofounder and CEO.
Shortlist and AMI will collaborate through EATI to create a targeted, youth-centric, and gender-equitable approach to upskilling and recruitment for clean energy enterprises. Shortlist will collaborate with renewable energy firms to identify talent gaps. It then tackles labor shortages by promoting awareness and excitement about developing sustainable energy occupations through marketing efforts, and then placing young individuals with little or no work experience in “last mile” on-the-job experiences.”
AMI will provide professional skills and work preparation training to young people placed through Shortlist. In addition, the organization will provide practical leadership development programs for emerging female leaders and middle managers already working in the field, thereby boosting career advancement and closing the talent gap, particularly for under-represented young women.
Following an impactful and well-received first phase, we are thrilled to be assisting Shortlist and AMI with the next part of their talent recruitment and training effort. “In EATI, our partners have focused more on assisting those in greatest need, increasing the impact and value for money of UK aid, and integrating their activity into the rest of the Transforming Energy Access programme to ensure that the results are greater than the sum of its parts,” said David Aitken, TEA, Programme Director.
Visit the following websites to learn more about the programs:
- Shortlist Energy Access Talent Initiative page: https://apo-opa.info/3MCvivl
- AMI’s Empowering Managers Programme (offered in English or French): https://apo-opa.info/3o4tqCp
- AMI & University of Cape Town’s Future Female Leaders in Energy Programme: https://apo-opa.info/3MAcpcC
