EMERGE, powered by TheBoardroom Africa, has launched a digital career development platform designed to equip young African professionals with the skills, mentorship, professional networks and employment opportunities needed to build sustainable careers. Supported by the Mastercard Foundation, the platform seeks to address the growing gap between talent and access to structured career advancement across the continent.
The platform combines career diagnostics, mentorship, professional learning, peer support and employer engagement in a single ecosystem to help professionals develop leadership skills and connect with career opportunities. It also provides organisations with access to a stronger and more visible talent pipeline, enabling employers to support staff development while improving talent retention and leadership succession. According to the organisers, the platform already has a community of more than 1,700 professionals from across Africa, with women accounting for about 60 per cent of its membership.
Speaking at the launch, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TheBoardroom Africa, Ms Marcia Ashong Sam, said Africa’s challenge is not a shortage of talent but limited access to structured career support and opportunities. She explained that EMERGE was created to bridge that gap by helping professionals translate their skills and ambitions into long term career success while giving employers access to better prepared talent. The platform features live masterclasses, self paced learning programmes, mentorship, leadership assessments and curated job opportunities with leading employers across Africa.
According to the organisers, EMERGE begins each member’s journey with a proprietary Leadership Compass assessment that identifies individual strengths and development needs before recommending personalised learning pathways. TheBoardroom Africa said the initiative builds on its decade long experience in leadership development and is expected to strengthen Africa’s future leadership pipeline by preparing young professionals for greater responsibility while supporting employers in building resilient and competitive workforces.:::