The Nexus Project

An innovative partnership created to transform job seekers into sustainable job creators.

Henley, working with Lagos Business School and Semicolon.Africa have launched an innovative programme designed to tackle youth unemployment in Nigeria and beyond. 

The Nexus is a virtual platform that de-isolates young entrepreneurs and connects them to an ecosystem of knowledge intervention and technical support services. Designed to improve the chances of building sustainable businesses, thereby improving the conversion rate of job seekers into job creators and reducing the failure rate of start-ups in the context. 

The Nexus platform will have a wide array of features to support this objective, including personalised mapping of enrolled entrepreneurs’ learner journeys, tailored management education from Henley and Lagos Business Schools, dedicated personal development and wellbeing opportunities, and a comprehensive coaching and mentoring programme. There will also be an investment hub designed to showcase investors the equipped and trained entrepreneurs, and their business ideas.

Why are we doing this?

In 2040, Africa will be the continent with the largest workforce in the world. However, current job prospects are insufficient for the working-age population, and formal jobs cannot absorb the growing working-age population. Africa's future rests largely on the success of the youth demographic, whose enterprises can catalyse economic growth and development. 

With a GDP growth of just 2.53%, Nigeria's economic system cannot provide enough jobs for the population, which some estimates say is growing at least 2.6% annually. The consequence of this is that the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose to 33.3% in December 2020, according to a report published by Nigeria's National Bureau of Statistics. This is an increase from 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020.

Entrepreneurship is a promising approach to transforming "job seekers" into "job creators," hence the challenge - How can Africa's enterprising youths become sustainable job creators? At the core of this challenge are three key issues: first, translating the high volume of entrepreneurial activities on the continent into investable job-creating ventures; second, closing the massive skills gaps among young African entrepreneurs; and third, building better functioning innovation ecosystems to support start-ups. In the current Nigerian ecosystem, it is almost impossible to successfully transform a desire for entrepreneurship into an "investment ready" initiative without the relevant ecosystem support.

With funding provided by the British Council, this project represents a long-term investment from all stakeholders.