Microsoft and Manpower Envision Future Entrepeneurs in Africa and the Middle East

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Young people in the United States are among those suffering most from unemployment.  Opportunity just doesn’t seem to be knocking as audibly as it used to.  But as the revolution in Egypt demonstrated, unemployment among the younger members of the workforce is not merely a national problem.  Early opportunities for work in a growing business help create a lifetime of possibility.
This week, Manpower Inc. and Microsoft have announced that they are developing joint programs to help young people across the globe to win in the world of work and seize early opportunities for entrepreneurship.  This long-term project will begin in the Middle East and Africa, the global regions with the highest rates of youth unemployment.  The goal is to develop a training curriculum for young entrepreneurs that include leading-edge technical, organizational, and business development skills.
Manpower emphasizes that this effort will help empower a future generation to bring future innovations to fruition.

“The rising rates of unemployment among young people are deeply disturbing, and this generation is at risk of becoming the new long-term unemployed,” said David Arkless, Manpower Inc. President of Corporate and Government Affairs. “Corporations have a moral obligation to foster innovation among young people, not just from a social responsibility standpoint, but because in the Human Age, it will be the source of that innovation, passion and creativity — human potential itself — that will be the catalyst for change and the global driving force economically, politically and socially.”

Microsoft uses an industrial rhetoric to describe its role in other continents.

“Microsoft is working to turn our technology expertise into an engine that drives global progress,” said Sharif Khan, Human Resources Director Microsoft Middle East and Africa.  “By broadening access to technology and entrepreneurial skills, we can unlock the potential of individuals and communities and find solutions to some of today’s most pressing societal challenges.  Now, the synergies between Microsoft’s technology offerings and Manpower’s world of work expertise will let us create even richer and more powerful programs for young people that help channel their energy into productive economic activity.”

By Marie Larsen