Zuke is a tech-savvy ecosystem developed to support the development of African businesses. On a mission to develop 1000 job creators, we develop ideas and hustles, turning them into sustainable long-term businesses. We do this through a combination of our marketplace, incubator and creative studio.
Mission
Transforming African Youth Mindsets to facilitate Positive Change across the continent. We want to drive the 1000 thriving businesses in the next 10 years
Vision
We envision a community-driven future where for African Youths,
- There are more Job Creators than Job Seekers
- Increased Collaborative Partnerships among youth-led businesses
- Are in a community where young Africans are consistently educated, inspired, and driven to take personal responsibility for their futures
In this future, we see a world where the youth have options and choices - employment or business, wages or revenue, study or building your business, getting a job, or creating a job(s).
Problem
- Youth unemployment rates across major African countries are too high (up to 80%)
- There is a high number of young people who place this responsibility on someone else e.g rich uncles, the government, etc
- Few young Africans consider entrepreneurship
- A high percentage of the few that do abandon their side hustles when they graduate.
- The few that continue their business do not have an appealing brand for mainstream audiences. E.g. Checkout youth businesses at https://www.kasihustlers.com/
Existing Solutions
There are existing initiatives like academies, marketplaces, incubators, training programs and so on that cater to this. However, these are some of what we have picked up:
- Very few of these programs are integrated i.e. Academy + Marketplace + Business Development + Branding + Marketing
- The few that do are built to cater to audiences with the “big idea(s)” e.g. the next Facebook, tech ideas, software, scalable inventions, etc. There are no integrated programs to nurture the average entrepreneur or people with entrepreneurial mindsets. For example, people selling bread on campus don't have a platform to nurture or even scale their “hustle” into a long-term sustainable business.