Wasoko cofounder Daniel Yu launches $100 million Africa Jobs Fund

Daniel Yu, co-founder of Wasoko, has launched the Africa Jobs Fund (AJF), a $100 million philanthropic investment fund aimed at mobilizing funds over the next five years to support companies creating high-productivity jobs across the continent. This new initiative comes as Africa faces deepening poverty and unemployment pressures, with over 439 million people living below the extreme poverty line of $2.15 a day in 2025.

What the Africa Jobs Fund Announced

The Africa Jobs Fund will focus on export manufacturing and international labour mobility, two sectors it considers among Africa's strongest pathways to economic mobility and poverty reduction. The fund estimates that its investments could increase African workers' earnings by more than $50 billion over time and help at least 250,000 low-income people double their lifetime income.

Inside the Fund's Objective

Daniel Yu, Founding Partner of the Africa Jobs Fund, believes that persistent poverty is, at its core, a jobs problem. Africa has hundreds of millions of working-age people reliant on subsistence agriculture or informal work that pays a few dollars a day. Those same people, in the right job at home or abroad, could earn significant multiples of their income. AJF exists to back the companies that create those jobs and opportunities.

• Estimated investment: $100 million over five years
• Focus areas: export manufacturing and international labour mobility
• Projected impact: increase African workers' earnings by more than $50 billion over time

Why This Matters

The widening gap between labour force growth and access to stable, income-generating employment has become one of Africa's most urgent development challenges. Only about three million formal jobs are created on the continent annually, while the average unemployment rate stands at 8.91%. The Africa Jobs Fund aims to bridge this gap by investing in companies that tackle the high setup costs that often prevent African manufacturers from scaling globally.

The Takeaway

The Africa Jobs Fund is a game-changer for African economic development, and its impact will be felt for generations to come. With its focus on export manufacturing and international labour mobility, AJF is poised to unlock larger pools of commercial capital and integrate African manufacturers into global supply chains. As Daniel Yu puts it, "nothing else in development comes close to the impact of getting this right," and that is why he is building AJF.