This archive report was first published on 19 December 2019.
As the continent grapples with the unemployment scourge, economists and governments are searching for solutions to create jobs locally and export others.
According to recent UN forecasts, Africa's population will double by 2050, from one billion to nearly 2.4 billion people, with half of that population under the age of 25.
Kenya's youth unemployment situation is particularly perilous, with statistics showing that in the period 2017-2018, aggregate unemployment fell from 11.50 to 9.30 per cent, but the share of unemployed youth is at 11.4 percent or an estimated 1.22 million young adults.
Kenya has set an ambitious target of becoming a middle-income country by 2030, requiring uninterrupted growth of 10 percent per year and citizens with globally-competitive skills.
One way to close the skills gap and prepare youth for the job market is through creating the right environment for franchising.
A franchise is a type of licence that allows a party to access a business's proprietary knowledge, processes, and trademarks to sell a product or provide a service under the business's name.
South Africa leads the way in the franchise industry, with 865 franchise systems and over 45,000 franchise outlets, contributing an estimated 13.3 per cent to the country's GDP and employing more than 300,000 people.
In Kenya, franchising is still nascent, with no specific franchise laws in place, but the market is steadily growing and evolving, with franchises in the food, restaurant, and beverages industries being the most successful.
