50 percent. That’s the youth unemployment rate in South Africa, the newest member of the BRICS group of developing economies. A program created by Hilton Worldwide and the International Youth Foundation aims to address the growing youth unemployment problem. Started in February, the Youth in Hospitality initiative seeks to empower young people around the world with training and lasting careers in the industry. With over 7 million 18 to 24 year olds out of work, the program’s launch in South Africa could be a landmark victory in the battle against youth unemployment.

 

The travel and tourism industry is plagued with misconceptions. High school graduates often associate careers in hospitality with uncertain pay, long hours, and poor conditions. The new program hopes to dispel these notions and provide students with a better understanding of the hospitality industry. As part of the Youth in Hospitality initiative, the Hilton recently held expos at three of its South African hotels to show students, parents, and teachers what a day in the life of Hilton employees is like. Youth in Hospitality will also provide valuable job shadowing programs, internships and on-the-job training tailored specifically to a younger generation of hospitality workers. Ultimately, Hilton wants to provide South African youths with long-lasting, sustainable careers.

 

The numbers paint a rosy picture of the hotel sector; the IYF predicts that it will grow by more than 45 percent and the industry as a whole will create 73 million jobs. Hilton Worldwide’s Vice-President of Operations for Africa and the Indian Ocean Jan van der Putten estimates that around 23,000 new hotel staff will be needed over the next four years to accommodate dozens of new hotel openings across Africa and the Middle East. Tackling the youth unemployment problem in South Africa is a daunting task, one that will likely take years to resolve. But for millions of unemployed South African graduates, Youth in Hospitality marks the beginning of a brighter future.

 Source: BDlive

Do you think the initiative will have any effect on youth unemployment in South Africa? Weigh in below with your thoughts.

Interested in the hospitality industry? Consider a career at Hilton Worldwide.

Working in hospitality often requires fluency in at least two languages. Baruch offers several language minors, from Chinese to Italian.

The Zicklin School of Business offers an International Business degree for both undergraduates and graduates

•Only 18% of women earn B.S. degrees in Computer Science
• Merely 16.5% of Women earn PhD’s in Computer Science
• Teen Girls Have Access To Computers Later Then Teen Boys
• Women account for just 6 percent of the chief executives of the top 100 tech              companies

Source: National Center for Women and Information Technology.

Exactly one week ago I sat in one of the world’s largest multinational corporations cafeterias as I had dinner with a colleague. As I took in the surroundings, a wave of excitement came over me. I was pleased to see that there were several women within the vicinity. These women were not visiting like I was, but rather Google employees. In fact, one-third of Google’s 34,300 employees are women, (NY Times, May 2013).

 

A glass ceiling is a political term used to describe the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements. Can women shatter the glass ceiling? Today there is a plethora of emerging tech hubs across the world. Silicon Valley, the worlds greatest tech hub has witnessed several high-profile women breaking through the glass ceiling such as Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo and Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. Google hopes to solve one of the most vexing problems facing Silicon Valley: how to recruit and retain more women. Google has generally been considered a place where women have thrived, but it wants to figure out how to compete even more vigorously for the relatively few women working in technology.

 

One can only wonder whether emerging tech hubs offer opportunities for women that Silicon Valley has failed to deliver in recent decades. Can hubs such as Moscow, London, New York and Nairobi offer women a level playing field? Helen Keegan founder of Heroes of Mobile states “The good news is there are lots of women working in London’s tech industry. The bad news is there aren’t enough of us. We’re almost invisible at board level, and the new girls on the block coming up from school aren’t interested in having a career in tech, yet will quite happily use it, day in and day out.” (Mashable.com)

 

In Africa there is a burgeoning presence of females in the tech industry. Women in tech hubs like iHub Nairobi have contributed to the rapid growth of the tech industry by providing outstanding ideas. Linda Kamau, co-founder of Akirachix  is excelling and paving the way for technologists of the future in Kenya.

 

In India, cities such as Pune have emerged as centers of technology. “There has been a massive growth in technology and a lot of women are taking big jobs,” explains Aakriti Kaushik, Indian tech specialist and founder at PR Buddy. “However, a lot more needs to be done in training and development with technology — education is especially needed.” (Mashable.com)

 

In Moscow, a project, popularly known as Skolkovo, has already lined up over $1 billion in financing from Western tech giants such as Cisco and Nokia as well as the official government support of both Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev. Skolkovo seeks to employee and retain women who have the right qualifications.

 

The glass ceiling in the technology industry is slowly but surely being shattered by women across the globe! Not only are Marissa and Sheryl headlining news within the United States but women in Moscow, India, London and Nairobi are demanding to be heard and seen as serious players in the game!

 

Click here for more information about available funds for women studying STEM  both internationally and domestically.

Click here for more information about the Masters Program in Financial Engineering here at Baruch.

Click here to for more information about the Zicklin Graduate Beta Alpha Psi Club that focuses on information systems and finance.

Click here to learn more about exploring these tech hub cities (London, Moscow, Pune and Nairobi), through our Study Abroad office.

 

Spanx is currently hiring! Students interested in International Business can check out vacant corporate positions including Senior International Account Manager, Applications Programmer and more.

If you haven’t already read about Sara Blakely or Spanx, check out my first article here.

 

Spanx is a billion dollar company owned by the world’s youngest self-madewoman dominated the U.S. undergarment market, profiting fourteen million in its first two years. According to the U.S Small Business Administration, only 50% of new establishments survive five years or more and 33% survive ten years or more. Now twelve years strong, Spanx has survived the economic crisis and is not stopping its business expansion. Sara Blakely is not only a renowned business woman, she is also an active philanthropist both internationally and domestically.

 

Using her financial success and passion for helping other women, Blakely created The Sara Blakely Foundation. Their first project was in partnership with Virgin Unite. She traveled with Sir Richard Branson to help the Community and Individual Development Association (CIDA) City Campus, the first free university in South Africa. She was able to raise more than $600,000 and provided 278 young women with scholarships to attend CIDA in 2006.

 

Back in 2000, Oprah Winfrey named Spanx one of her favorite products of the year and provided the undergarment company with its big break. Blakely, who credits Oprah as one of her biggest inspirations, surprised the television mogul with a $1,000,000 check for The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation in South Africa during an appearance on the show in 2007.

 

In addition, The Sara Blakely Foundation granted four young women from Zimbabwe with scholarships to attend Brenau University in 2009. These young women were provided the opportunity to learn from their educational experiences abroad and from other students across the globe. Other organizations The Sara Blakely Foundation has sponsored include the Africa Women’s Development Fund, The Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Dress for Success, Habitat for Humanity – Marist Women Build, Kidsave International, Project Clean Water, and Washington Women In Need.

 

Coming off its best years, Spanx has big plans for expansion. Today, the brand can be found worldwide in more than 50 countries which include Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Sweden, Spain and more.

 

Click here for more information about the International Business major.

 

 

M-Pesa, developed in Kenya, is now a widely used mobile money system used all throughout Africa. However, there are more and more startups springing up all across the continent. From Ghana to Nigeria, innovative tech startups in Africa are finally having their time under the spotlight.

 

1. Njorku, a startup based out of Cameroon, is helping users find careers all across the continent. The job search engine is a free service which connects people to thousands of job listings. Since its inception in early 2011, Njorku gets thousands of unique visitors per month and is growing steadily month-to-month.

 

2. AdsBrook allows advertisers to run integrated campaigns across several platforms. The company allows businesses to reach a fast growing audience on web and mobile devices.

 

3. Gloo.ng is an online grocery business based out of Nigeria. The site allows people to shop from the comfort of their own home and caters to a city, Lagos of 21 million. The company now employs over 100 people.

 

4. Mara Online is often referred to as Africa’s answer to Skype. It allows users to communicate and collaborate through web and mobile platforms. The goal of Mara is to connect young entrepreneurs with businesspeople all around the world.

 

5. PriceCheck, of South Africa is the largest price comparison site in Africa. The site enables users to get the best deal by comparing thousands of items from different online sellers.

 

6. BiNu, is a mobile application that turns any low-end mobile device into a smartphone. One of the main features of this application is boosting Internet speeds up to 10 times faster. Other functions include providing news, weather and entertainment. BiNu users can also message each other and set up social profiles.

 

7. Konga is the largest online megastore in Africa, and is Nigeria’s answer to Amazon. Users are able to buy products straight from their mobile devices and can expect it to be delivered to their doorstep within five days. Konga carries a range of products from cosmetics to electronics to clothing.

 

8. Iroko is the largest distributor of African entertainment in the entire world. The company has built a global audience of over 6 million unique users from 178 different countries. Commonly known as “Africa’s Netflix”, the company provides a huge selection of movies from Hollywood to Nigeria’s very own Nollywood.

 

9. Saya, a messaging client based out of Ghana is cutting the costs of SMS for all of its users. The cross-platform application brings smart-phone like messaging to billions of low-end devices. This is extremely important for communication because instead of texting, people can use this application to chat with one another and even set up group conversations.

 

10. MXit is a social network in Africa that now has 50 million registered users. The company is a free online instant messenger that runs on close to 3000 mobile handsets. Users can play multiplayer games, buy music and videos clips, and can even exchange goods between one another.

 

Start-up companies have great potential for growth and the Weissman Center for International Business offers financial support for those doing unpaid internships. The Baruch Entrepreneurial Intern Fellowship Program is available for the fall, spring and summer semester. For more information stop by the Weissman Center today!

June 14

Maroon 5

Where?  Outside TODAY’s window-on-the-world studio, located at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Fans should arrive by 6 a.m. for best viewing.

Times? 7 to 9 AM

Click here for more information

 

June 21

John Legend Good Morning America

Where?  Rumsey Playfield in Central Park (via the 72nd street entrance on Fifth Avenue at 6:00am when the park opens to the public. Closest subway lines are the N and R, or enter at Central Park West and 72nd St closest to the B and C subway lines)

Time? 7 to 9 AM

Click here for more information

 

June 21

Amadou & Mariam / Bombino (aka the Hendrix of the Sahara)

Time? 7 PM

Where? CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! @ Prospect Park Bandshell (9th Street & Prospect Park West)

Brooklyn, NY 11215

 Click here for more information  

 

June 24

MOS DEF

Where? Central Park 14 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022

Time? 7:00-10:00PM

Click here for more information 

 

June 25

Angelique Kidjo

 Where? Rockefeller Park

Time? 7 PM

Click here for more information

 

June 28

Ladysmith Black Mambazo / Aurelio Martinez

Where? CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! @ Prospect Park Bandshell (9th Street & Prospect Park West).

Time? 7:30 PM

Click here for more information  

 

June 30

Movie night at Habana Outpost

Movie Title: The Outsiders

Where? Habana Outpost Brooklyn (757 Fulton Street, Brooklyn)

Time? 8 PM

Click here for more information