FEATURED ON REUTER.

The need for workplace skills is the driving force behind West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE), a company that is a hybrid between a careers service and an employment agency.

WAVE trains young adults in time-keeping, conflict resolution, management and team communication through lessons and role-playing before a two-week placement with businesses it uses as partners. In some cases this leads to a job.

"We can't kid ourselves and focus on Africa rising for a few," said WAVE CEO and co-founder Misan Rewane, who described youth unemployment as a time bomb.

The non-profit entity charges participants 10,000 naira ($50) upfront, although some receive a loan to defer the fee until they have been paid. It takes a third of the trainee's first month's pay, and the same sum from the employer.

WAVE mainly partners with hotels and restaurants because the industry needs entry level workers, Rewane said.

However, like Andela, a limited few may acquire skills but it is not a process that will lead to mass employment. Some 200 people have been trained in two years and the average starting salary for those who find jobs is 37,000 naira ($188) per month.

"A lot of these young people have come out of school systems that have short-changed them," said Rewane, expressing her fear that a lack of broad skills could hold back future generations of Nigerian job seekers
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/02/nigeria-unemployment-idUSL5N10T29Q20150902