About Inspire Africa
Inspire Africa for Global Impacts Initiative was birthed from the innate desire of two entrepreneurs and couple, Blessing and Cynthia Mene, to uplift young people and unleash their full potential through education and mentoring.
​
Currently, Inspire Africa offers entrepreneurship training to youth in Nigeria through it’s flagship program; Ignite Innovation Lab (IGL) Digital Transformation, an online startup incubator that provides lessons on design-thinking, digital marketing and digital skills to create sustainable digital enterprises addressing social and environmental problems and advancing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). To date, Inspire Africa has trained over 3,000 Nigerian youth, funded 120 business ventures, and created over 300 jobs.
​
In 2021, Inspire Africa will launch an additional program called Emerging Leaders for Africa (ELA), focused on workforce training for youth in Nigeria. The ELA program will provide undergraduate students in Nigeria with virtual technical and soft-skills training, 1-on-1 career coaching, and direct exposure to companies through internships and full-time jobs.
Our Training Model
Our goal is to energize the entrepreneurial and leadership vision of young people to create jobs, grow the local economy and serve millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa.
​
We deliver a curated entrepreneurship and leadership training program, Design Thinking and Innovation, business development support, and team building for young people in Africa.
Virtual Team-based Multi-Day Workshop
Participants will explore human-centered design methodologies, need finding, ethnographic observation, engineering problem-solving methods, visualization, rapid prototyping, team dynamics, and project leadership. The vehicles for learning include hands-on activities using digital tools (G-Suite), online group exercises, research and discussions, short lectures, and pitch rehearsals.
Design Exercises &
Digital Marketing
This initial introduction to design thinking methodology threads into an extensive exercise that asks participants to successfully infuse design thinking into business planning and entrepreneurial activities.
Participants will undergo further hands-on learning and workshops on digital marketing and utilizing social media for customer acquisition.
Project Leadership
Participants will be introduced to a series of creative confidence team building and leadership activities that will equip them with the leadership capacity to implement the business project and work with a team remotely.
