The Emergent Business and Coding Academy is a 12-month skills development learnership that empowers unemployed youth, over 70% are young women between the ages of 18 and 24. The academy also offers participants first-hand job experience through partnerships. The objective is to therefore balance skills development with actual job experience, whilst empowering participants with the possibilities of creating their own viable entrepreneurial initiative. The curriculum design has two components; the academic content and the learnership/job-immersion for first-hand work experience. The academic component has four core courses: The business course, computer science and digital technologies skills course, job-readiness, and Personal development course.

This learning brief, produced by Young Women Transform prize grantee Dream Factory Foundation, describes how the Emergent Business and Coding Academy empowers young people through education, equipping them with skills and creating meaningful opportunities to become active citizens living purpose driven lives.