Young Africa Works is a program initiated by the Mastercard Foundation that aims to create economic opportunities for young people in Africa. The Young Africa Works program aims to provide young people aged 18 to 35 with the skills, education, and resources they need to build successful careers and businesses. It seeks to address the youth unemployment crisis in Africa by providing access to training, mentorship, and financial services.
In Uganda, the YAW project was initiated in partnership with The Innovation Village and The Private Sector Foundation of Uganda. The Innovation Village is a tech hub based in Kampala, Uganda. The hub brings together individuals, organizations, and resources to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. It is a start-up incubator and co-working space that has supported over 150 start-ups and more individuals.
It quickly became apparent that there was need to have real-time data and monitor ongoing proceedings of the projects under YAW accross the country. Having fluid access to such information would create fluidity, thereby reducing delays in decision-making.
We were hired to design the user interface for a platform that would link all stakeholders (Startup Heads, Innovation Hub heads, Partners and Sponsors). The front-end would provide general information about on-going projects such as news, events, contacts and a messages space for direct communication in-app. The Back-end would be limited to special-access stakeholders higher-up in the hierarchy. This end of the platform would allow users to feed in information collected from sites, start-ups, other innovation hubs and on-going projects. This is where events would also be uploaded.
