Daniel Yu, founder of African e-commerce platform Wasoko, has launched the Africa Jobs Fund (AJF), a $100 million initiative designed to tackle unemployment and poverty across Sub-Saharan Africa by backing companies capable of creating large-scale, high-productivity jobs.
The fund aims to support founders building businesses that raise incomes, improve living standards, and create sustainable employment opportunities for millions of Africans currently trapped in low-income informal work.
According to details shared with Technext, AJF intends to address one of Africa’s most pressing economic challenges: the widening gap between the continent’s rapidly growing workforce and the limited availability of formal jobs.
Current projections indicate that nearly 600 million of the world’s extremely poor people could be living in Africa by 2040 if the continent continues creating formal jobs at its present pace of roughly three million annually. AJF believes the solution lies in scaling value-added industries and enabling labour mobility.
“Persistent poverty is, at its core, a jobs problem,” Daniel Yu said while announcing the initiative. “AJF exists to back the companies that create those jobs and opportunities. Nothing else in development comes close to the impact of getting this right.”
The fund projects that its investments could generate more than $50 billion in income gains for African workers while at least doubling the lifetime earnings of over 250,000 low-income individuals.
AJF’s strategy focuses heavily on value-added manufacturing, a sector many economists believe remains underdeveloped across Africa despite the continent’s abundance of raw materials.
Most African economies still rely heavily on exporting unprocessed commodities while importing finished products, limiting local industrial growth and reducing opportunities for high-quality employment.
By supporting export-driven manufacturing businesses, AJF hopes to strengthen local supply chains, improve workforce skills, and increase foreign exchange earnings.
The initiative also sees international labour mobility as a major pathway to economic transformation. According to AJF, more than 15 million people migrate annually to high-income countries, a number expected to rise as aging populations in developed economies increase demand for workers in healthcare, logistics, construction, and skilled trades.
For many African workers, this shift could represent a dramatic leap in income. Earnings that average around $2,000 annually in several African markets can rise to over $40,000 in developed economies.
Daniel Yu is launching the fund alongside a team of prominent advisors and operators with deep experience across technology, recruitment, and international development.Among them is Ben Hyman, founder of recruitment firm Talent Safari, who joins AJF as Operating Partner.
Other senior advisors include Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, as well as Samantha Power, former Administrator of USAID and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations.Aboyeji described the initiative as timely for the continent’s next phase of economic growth.
“African founders have shown they can build category-defining companies,” he said. “The next decade must focus on building companies that put millions of people to work.”
Samantha Power added that improving access to better jobs through export manufacturing and labour mobility remains one of the most effective ways to lift families out of poverty sustainably.
Africa remains the world’s youngest continent, with millions of young people entering the labour market annually. However, formal job creation continues to lag behind population growth, forcing many into subsistence agriculture and informal employment.The challenge has become increasingly urgent as governments struggle with rising unemployment, economic inequality, and growing migration pressures.
AJF’s launch signals increasing investor interest in employment-focused development models that prioritize scalable businesses capable of creating measurable economic impact beyond traditional venture capital returns.
As Africa’s startup ecosystem matures, initiatives like AJF could play a defining role in determining whether the continent can convert its demographic advantage into long-term economic growth.
