Jumpstart Academy Africa (JAA) is a charitable association that aims to transform the education sector in Cameroon. JAA seeks to achieve this vision by bridging the wide gap that exists between the educational system and the job market in Cameroon. JAA’s main goal is to ensure that there is inclusive and equitable quality education by improving learning outcomes for young people whilst supporting their personal and professional development.
This is done through leadership and entrepreneurship training for students, nurturing their critical thinking, principled leadership, and an entrepreneurial method of problem-solving skills using civic engagement, inclusivity, and equitability. JAA believes that this approach will help improve the employability of the youth they work with.
Since its inception in 2014, JAA programmes have reached over 20,000 young people. At least 30% of the young people who completed their training have launched businesses/projects, providing employment opportunities for themselves and other young people; 50% of their programme graduates have obtained internships and job placements; 80% of their students take on leadership roles in their communities, and finally, students experience a 311% increase in income after completing the Entrepreneurial Leadership Training.
JAA was founded by Madelle Kangha, a lawyer by profession and social entrepreneur. The JAA operations and team is led by Dr. Mrs. Estella Bih-Neh Jifon (Executive Director) and Mr. Lovert Nde (Country Director).
JAA is among 14 other Youth Ventures Programme (YVP) grant recipients selected to receive project funding and technical support from The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT). Through the YVP, QCT’s support will go towards piloting a virtual platform among its students and set up metrics that will be used to effectively track and measure the impact of the programme; enlist 10 new schools in its scholar’s programme with a total of 500 scholars during the year and set up a hub for training the scholars at its offices in Bamenda where it expects to serve approx. 500 university students and graduates.
