Ciré Kane and the Synapse Centre

Cire Kane is a shining example of how one persons dedication, hard work and commitment to social change can be inspiration to an entire generation of African youth. Cire is the Executive Director of the Synapse Centre, a Senegalese organization working to provide employability skills to promising young people though entrepreneurship and business training.

Cire conceived of the idea of the Synpase Centre after witnessing the failures of government and international donors alike to deal with the issue of youth unemployment. The outlook for young people in Senegal is bleak, the 16,000 new jobs created every year represent only 5% of the unemployed population. In response to this enormous challenge and failures of the past, the Government of Senegal introduced the National Youth Employment Agency (ANEJ) under the Ministry of Youth in 2001. Subsequently, the National Assembly endorsed the National Action Plan on Youth Employment (NAP) in 2006. The government has asked Synapse, with their proven approaches to battle the youth employment challenge, to be at the front line of this policy response.

The trademark initiative of the Synapse Centre is its 14-month Promise Programme – a highly intensive, hands on youth entrepreneurship training programme combining the best of learning theory with the needs of contemporary entrepreneurs. The learning process features interactivity through case-based studies, practical entrepreneurial experience through on site business visits personal development retreats, professional business consulting and mentoring.

The objective of the Promise Programme is simple: to ensure that each youth that has gone through the Programme has estastablished a successful, sustainable and growing business which looks to give back to society.

The results after 2 years of the Promise Programme are amazing, 35 young entrepreneurs have received business training, mentoring and business development services, 12 of these entrepreneurs have gone on to start their own business while another 10 have gone on to offer their talents in the business sector.

Cire continues to act as an advocate for unemployed youth the world over. In addition to his role as founding member of the Senegalese YES Country Network and a member of Pioneers for Change, a global learning community of committed young change agents, Cire has recently been selected as an Ashoka Fellow. Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who demonstrate innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society.

YEN salutes Cire’s dedication to the youth employment issue and would like to recognize his incredible achievement!

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