Prudential Financial Inc. said it plans to commit more than $180 million through 2025 to support the opportunity youth — approximately 350 million people aged 15-29 who lack access to school, training or regular jobs — with about a third of the investment going toward the Newark area.
“Businesses like ours have a role to play in ensuring that global economic progress benefits all members of tomorrow’s workforce,” Charles Lowrey, Prudential chairman and CEO, said. “Our goal is to improve young people’s lives by creating pathways for them to achieve financial wellness, strengthen their communities and ultimately help drive the global economy.”
Prudential said its investment will help young people around the globe gain skills to compete for and succeed in quality jobs by supporting dedicated partnerships through grants, corporate contributions and impact investments.
“We’ve seen firsthand from our work with partners around the world the positive ripple effect that supporting youth in this way has on local communities,” Lata Reddy, senior vice president of diversity, inclusion and impact, and chair and president of The Prudential Foundation, said. “Integrating this population into the workforce will drive revenue growth for businesses and the global economy. With the right skills and training, opportunity youth can be both an engine of growth and a catalyst for positive social change.”
Prudential said it has committed more than $50 million in this population segment over the past two decades.
“In our journey to help youth rebuild their lives and their communities, the partnership with Prudential has been instrumental to our success. This investment is further proof of the company’s commitment to supporting the next generation of workers and young leaders around the world who come from all walks of life,” Tim Cross, president, YouthBuild International, said.
Prudential said it has investment in talent development platforms that bridge the education-to-employment gap, most recently with Andela, a New York-based startup where Prudential is helping create a talent pipeline of African software developers.
“We are connecting talent with opportunity on a global scale while also building and sustaining a pan-African elite tech workforce. Prudential’s commitment is going to enable us to reach more software engineers from across the continent, who are poised to become tomorrow’s global tech leaders. We’re looking forward to what we can do together,” said Jeremy Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Andela. The startup’s talent pipeline is supported by a data-driven, automated hiring and training system. The company currently operates four training centers in Africa and has scaled to over 1,000 developers.
