Delta Air Lines and Junior Achievement (JA) Africa have renewed their partnership to advance business and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education among young people across the continent.
JA Africa is one of Africa’s largest and most impactful youth-serving NGOs, delivering hands-on immersive learning in work, financial health, entrepreneurship, sustainability, STEM, economics, citizenship, ethics and more.
As part of its partnership with JA Africa, the airline will present the Delta Social Impact Award at JA Africa’s flagship Company of the Year competition taking place in Lagos, Nigeria, from December 7-9, 2022. This event is the culmination of a year’s work for young participants from Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who have created and run their own businesses over the past academic year as part of the JA Company Programme.
“As the next generation of business leaders – and global travellers – we work with Junior Achievement across the globe to facilitate education programmes for young people,” said Nicolas Ferri, Delta’s vice president Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. “We have seen the positive impact of this work here in Africa, and look forward to continuing our partnership as we support the next generation to meet their full educational potential and move into meaningful employment.”
Over the next 12 months, Delta will also sponsor JA Africa’s STEM innovation camps for 50 schoolchildren each in Accra and Dakar – two of the cities from where the airline flies non-stop to the United States. The one-day camps encourage creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and problem-solving, as young people must put forward solutions to solve a specific business challenge. Colleagues from Delta will be on hand to support JA Africa’s team and provide coaching and mentoring to the students throughout the day.
Simi Nwogugu, CEO of JA Africa said: “We are honoured to have Delta Air Lines as a long-standing partner. Their sponsorship for JA Africa’s 2022 Company of the Year competition, through the Social Impact Award, will encourage our young entrepreneurs to use innovative approaches for solving societal issues.
“This grant will also support Innovation Camps in Ghana and Senegal, which provide a forum for our students to work in groups to address real-life business challenges. These programmes give our students the exposure and skilling they need to thrive in the 21st century workforce.”
Junior Achievement Africa, part of JA Worldwide, is one of Africa’s largest organisations working on youth economic empowerment. Delta supports 32 JA chapters across five continents to teach students about financial literacy, work-readiness and entrepreneurship. JA Africa has a presence in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and collectively reaches more than 300,000 young people and more than 3000 schools every year.
JA works in Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with a goal to secure better lives for the young, their families and their communities.
Delta has been flying to Africa for nearly 16 years, longer than any other U.S. airline, and currently offers non-stop service from four African countries – Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa – to the United States. It will begin flying from Cape Town in December.
