Program Born from TICAD Helps Japan Firms Grow in Africa, as Program Alumni Aid in Search for Business Opportunities

By Takeshi Kuroiwa / Japan News Staff Writer

18:26 JST, August 21, 2025

YOKOHAMA – Among the programs that have come out of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), the ABE Initiative has been particularly successful in promoting business ties between Japanese people and people from Africa.

A representative of a Japanese company, who has been doing business with African participants in the initiative, said program alumni can help discover “business opportunities.” The representative was speaking at an event on Wednesday on the sideline of TICAD 9, which ends on Aug. 22 in Yokohama.

The program, which is sponsored by the Japanese government, has helped** people from Africa to study for master’s degrees at Japanese universities and to participate in internship programs at Japanese companies. It aims to develop African workers for business and industry and foster human resources that will bridge Japanese and African businesses.

The initiative, officially called the African Business Education Initiative for Youth, was launched at TICAD 5 in 2013. The conference that year was co-hosted by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Wednesday’s event invited representatives of Japanese firms who have ties to program participants, as well as Africans who have participated in the program.

At the event, Nobuhiko Matsumoto, director of Assentia Holdings, Inc., shared his company’s efforts to capture market share in Africa with the help of ABE Initiative alumni.

The company has expanded its self-service laundromat business in Africa by franchising it out. Matsumoto said the business started with a man from Mozambique who had taken part in the program. In Mozambique, many people ask maids to do their laundry, but it costs $6-$7. Matsumoto noted that although it costs more to use a self-service laundromat than in Japan, they are still popular in Mozambique.

Matsumoto said that the company aims to open another self-service laundromat in Kenya next month and one in Madagascar within the year. From 2026, it plans to expand the service to seven other countries, including Zambia and Tanzania.

ABE Initiative alumni are valuable because they can give companies business opportunities that they may not notice, added Matsumoto.

Also on Wednesday, a Kenyan woman reflected on her experience in the initiative. Mary Matogo is a 2018 graduate of the Graduate School of International Relations at the International University of Japan. At the event, Matogo, who currently works at a major trading house in Japan, said the program was “really transformative.”

Thanks to the program, Matogo said she was “able to gain an understanding of Japanese society” and also form a positive impression of Japanese people.

According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which organized Wednesday’s event, the program has accepted about 1,900 people from all 54 countries on the continent. Two hundred of these participants have been employed by Japanese companies.