From ESMT Berlin pilot to pan-African impact: iiAfrica scales graduate employability initiative across Africa

Launch to Work: Africa, supported by SOS Children’s Villages worldwide, focuses on workplace-readiness training, professional skills development, internship support, and pathways into early-career employment opportunities. Through five weeks of intensive training, participants develop practical competencies in areas including digital agility, data literacy, professional communication, and career preparedness. The initiative is designed to support graduates who face barriers to employment opportunities and limited access to similar career-development programs across the continent. 

The program builds on work that began at ESMT in 2017 with the launch of the Industry Immersion Program (IIP), a pilot initiative developed together with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) to help STEM graduates across Africa strengthen business and workplace-readiness skills through academic modules and internships with industry partners. Building on the success of the pilot, iiAfrica was established as an independent organization in 2022 to scale employability and entrepreneurship programs across Africa. To date, nearly 80 percent of participants to date have secured employment after completing the program. 

“The seeds of this initiative were sown when we launched a funding application to the DAAD for a pilot program in 2016,” says Nick Barniville, member of the Board of Friends of ESMT and co-founder of Industry Immersion Africa. “We believed there was a gap between what STEM graduates on the continent were learning in university and what industry needed. Support from SOS Children’s Villages worldwide will allow us to extend our reach beyond STEM and support thousands more African graduates in their transition into industry. Our aim is to reach one million talented young Africans by 2035, and this is the next major step toward that goal.” 

ESMT faculty continue to support iiAfrica through teaching contributions and open-access educational content focused on business skills, management education, and leadership. 

About Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica) 
Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica) is a pan-African non-profit organization committed to enhancing graduate employability and entrepreneurship across Africa. Through industry-relevant training, workplace-readiness support, and partnership-led programming, iiAfrica supports young people in building the skills and experience needed to succeed in the labor market.