Our basic principle: creating win-win situations
Many African markets are bursting with dynamic: a young population, the growing availability of labour and skilled workers as well as the integration into global value chains offer interesting opportunities for companies. If you want to invest and are confronted with obstacles, we can assist you with advice, contacts and financial support.
Good things happen when the public and private sector pull together. Assuming fair play, we invest when you invest. And: the project must be beneficial to your company as well as to other companies and interested parties in the partner countries. Current partner countries are Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia; Egypt is due to join shortly.
What is Invest for Jobs?
Under the Invest for Jobs brand, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has put together a package of measures to support your investment activities that have a high impact on employment in Africa.
The Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation - the official title - offers you comprehensive advice, contacts and financial support to overcome investment barriers.
Our developmental objective is to create jobs and apprenticeships and to improve working conditions in our partner countries. The Special Initiative thus contributes to the implementation of the G20 investment partnership Compact with Africa and the Marshall Plan with Africa.
What does Invest for Jobs focus on?
Business and Invest
Overcoming investment barriers
If there are barriers to investment or trade – for example a local shortage of skilled labour, insufficient performance of the local supply industry or poor infrastructure – we examine how these can be dismantled to pave the way for investments. For this purpose, we for example conduct project development workshops with companies in Germany and in our partner countries as part of our Business & Invest Lab.
African Mittelstand
Promoting small and medium-sized companies
Small and medium-sized companies are essential for job creation in Africa. In order to improve the competitiveness of medium-sized companies in Africa, we support them in opening up new market opportunities. At the same time, we promote collaborations between German and African SMEs to strengthen cooperation or to internationalise value chains.
Cluster Focus
Investing in up-and-coming clusters and industries
In liaison with our partner countries, we support attractive business locations that promise long-term success. We also promote auspicious sectors in our partner countries (the automotive, aviation and ICT sectors in Tunisia for example), although our support is not limited to these industries.
Our Partners: Combined expertise in international development cooperation
In order to create sustainable jobs, apprenticeships and good working conditions, we bring together the private sector, academia and public administration. The Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation works together with companies and investors as well as with universities and vocational schools, chambers of commerce, associations and civil society.
The two largest organisations implementing Invest for Jobs are Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and KfW Development Bank (KfW).
Other important partners are the development organisation sequa, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Engagement Global and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB).