The United Nations emphasizes that for those who are less fortunate, "labor is sometimes the only asset they can employ to enhance their well-being" in its 2007 report on the World Social Situation.
As a result, creating chances for gainful employment is crucial to achieving poverty reduction and long-term socioeconomic growth. Due to increasing labor wages, fewer families, and lower dependency ratios—often associated with people having better jobs—the world's poverty rate has decreased by 40%. In rising economies, things can still be done to improve the situation. Employment, way of life, and labor markets have been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has caused a global recession. This emphasizes the significance of the job agenda even more.
To address the pandemic's impacts in the medium and long terms, much work remains to be done, including encouraging job creation, economic inclusion, and re-employment in a society beset by shifting demand patterns and disruptive technological advancements. There is a need to increase chances for productive jobs with greater earnings and better working conditions for individuals in low-income nations, as the working-age population of Africa is expected to rise by 450 million, or nearly 70%, by 2035. However, there is a chance that approximately 100 million new employment will be produced for the expanding population of working people without appropriate policy adjustments.
By collaborating with MSMEs in the six countries where it operates, Equity Group wants to address the jobs issue by creating 50 million new jobs through the USD 7 billion (Kes 700 billion) Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan by 2027. After the COVID-19 epidemic, the strategy aims to hasten the region's economic recovery and resilience by fostering chances for employment in the agriculture and extractives, manufacturing and logistics, trade, the MSME sector, social impact investments, and tech-driven enterprises. Equity Group will provide credit to 25 million individual borrowers and 5 million Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) during the next five years.
The goal is to create 25 million new direct jobs and another 25 million indirect jobs in the selected industries through the use of blended financing in the form of short-, medium-, and long-term credit facilities. According to the Group's managing director and CEO, Dr. James Mwangi, doing this will significantly increase the region's access to financing and ability for job development.
Content created and supplied by: Gee Mwaniki (via Opera News )
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