Junior Achievement (JA) Africa, one of the continent’s largest youth-serving organisations, released its Annual Impact Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, documenting a landmark year of growth, innovation and deepening impact across 23 African countries.
The report reveals that JA Africa delivered 1,637,137 learning experiences in FY2025, more than 12 times the 131,260 experiences delivered in FY2021, making it the fastest-growing region within the global JA Worldwide network. Over the same five-year period, JA Africa has delivered a cumulative 4,269,881 learning experiences in entrepreneurship, financial capability, work readiness, STEM, and sustainability across the continent.
The FY2025 report closes JA Africa’s ‘Boundless’ strategic cycle, a five-year framework developed in partnership with Accenture built on four pillars: Accelerate Digital, Empower the Underserved, Cultivate Partnerships and Strengthen OneJA. Over that period, the organisation grew from delivering 200,000 learning experiences per year in 12 countries to more than 1.5 million in 23 countries, a transformation driven by stronger systems, governance, digital infrastructure and a shared commitment to execution excellence.
“Scale was never the goal in itself, impact was,” said Simi Nwogugu, president and CEO of JA Africa. “What stands out most is not only how much we have grown, but how intentionally we have grown.”
Among the report’s standout achievements is the Social Equity Program (SEP), supported by the Z Zurich Foundation, which exceeded every target in FY2025, delivering learning experiences to 53,970 young people who were not in education, employment, or training across seven countries, 115% of its set target, and running 476 bootcamps, double the projected number. The program’s impact extended well beyond the classroom: 554 youth launched social enterprises addressing water scarcity, malnutrition, waste and climate; 1,006 graduates secured employment within six months of completing the program; 521 jobs were created through SEP-supported enterprises; and 3,618 social impact projects were designed by participants. In Burkina Faso, JA Africa formalized a three-year partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Entrepreneurship Promotion, signaling growing government ownership of youth empowerment at the national level.
JA Africa’s Digital Entrepreneurship Education Program (JA DEEP), launched with support from the Citi Foundation and upgraded with backing from the Z Zurich Foundation, recorded its highest-ever adoption this year with 66,546 participants completing core modules. More than 50% of participants were women, and more than 2,000 went on to pitch business ideas or transition into internships and apprenticeships. In Tanzania, JA DEEP alumnus Mohammed Salim Suleiman used the program’s entrepreneurship training to launch Akili Hub LMS, a digital learning platform for secondary school students, and was subsequently selected for the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship 2025.
