A Ghanaian tech company, Ripple Influence has set a sustainable goal of curbing youth unemployment in Africa, with an ambitious target to create US$3 million worth of social media influencer jobs by the end of 2021, starting from Ghana.
Unemployment and business losses have become a widespread challenge in the world ever since the pandemic, with Africa recording the highest impact, especially amongst the youth.
In a year where majority have been working from home, staying indoors, experiencing cancelled projects and decreased mobility, this has increased the use of online and social media amongst the youth.
According to data gathered by Ripple Influence, it was identified that social media usage in Ghana alone increased by 12% since April 2020 till date, and marketing budgets of most companies are being shifted from traditional media channels to social media influencer marketing.
Social media influencers in Africa are everyday people who have gained a reputation or following on social media for their knowledge or expertise on specific topics or interests.
And now both local and multinational brands operating on the continent prefer to engage them as a channel to communicate with their consumers due to the fact that it is much more relatable and convincing.
To ensure value from both stakeholders, Ripple Influence seeks to launch an artificial intelligence backed tech platform by the end of 2020 which connects these brands and influencers across Africa, starting from Ghana.
Ripple Influence will enable brands get value by reaching their audience through influencers and at the same time providing jobs for the many unemployed youth on the continent.
CEO of RIPPLE Influence, Therese Jones, said: “We want to create value by translating the thousands of followers these influencers have into thousands of dollars in their pockets.”
With the company’s experience working with large multinational brands in Ghana, under the name Brandmeister, the new platform already has over 840 social media influencers signed up, and a gig pipeline worth thousands of dollars already.
From now till the end of 2020, Ripple Influence is embarking on a mass sign-up exercise and is calling all Ghanaian youth with a mobile phone and a social media platform to sign up unto this platform with the opportunity to earn or kickstart their social media influencer careers.
The Ripple team is made up of brand, marketing and tech gurus with vast experience spanning Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Accra.
