AFSIC attendance helps unlock key funding to empower African youth

Meeting a range of investors and individuals at last year’s AFSIC - Investing in Africa conference was pivotal in helping grow Africa College Foundation’s charitable mission in several countries, says socioeconomic rights law expert Dr Tahirih Danesh.

“At AFSIC 2024, I met a range of individuals interested in what we offer, resulting in nine countries inviting us to establish an Education Town for their nation’s youth,” says Tahirih, CEO of Africa College Foundation (ACF), a charity supporting world-leading education as the means to transform lives for the better. 

“We are in the process of now preparing for G20 and the connections made [at AFSIC] are keen to further align with us and our network of changemakers.”

Headquartered in South Africa, ACF is a UK-based charity that looks to empower African youth for a brighter future, advocating that education has the power to transform individual lives and safeguard our collective future. ACF supports the development of low-cost, high-ROI demand-driven education and innovation for, by, and with the most marginalised among the largest population of youth on earth.

“We have pioneered two different elements, the combination of which is highly transformative,” says Tahirih. “One is consciousness-based education, or CBE, where we work with learners to uncover their hidden talents and provide them agency.”

The second element, she notes, addresses the fact that while access to secondary education is a universal right, access to post-secondary is not. ACF is pioneering universalisation by helping anyone interested to access quality tertiary education either at no or extremely low costs through ACF’s innovative learn and earn scheme.

ACF secures resources for underprivileged youth by providing opportunities for higher education and valuable professional skills training through South Africa’s award-winning Maharishi Invincibility Institute (MII). It also supports world-leading education for the largest population of youth on the planet via high-return impact investment through its wing at MI Capital, partnerships to establish business services in the BPO sector and digital skills, joint academies and centres assisting likeminded universities in the global north to reach more students, and fundraising events.. 

MII’s graduates often earn over three times their family’s average income within three years of graduation, securing positions in various industries, including consulting, banking, and technology. Capital raised by ACF will enable it to annually educate at least 40,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds, propelling them towards successful careers, contributing to their families and communities. 

“We are actively engaged in transforming Johannesburg CBD into the education and innovation capital the youngest continent on earth needs,” says Tahirih. “In addition, we are working in rural communities around Sub-Saharan Africa, to ensure we reach diverse populations to make our services and organisation more sustainable for all.”

Following on from their attendance at AFSIC 2024, and the connections and investments that unlocked, ACF is planning in the coming years to progress and roll out the key steps in its Master Plan to put £50 billion into the hands of marginalised families across Africa, through education and assisting students.

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