Vanguard youth inspire Africa’s economic renaissance

Joseph Oroko and Gaita Kariuki runs a Kenyan agribusiness startup dubbed Selina Wamucii.

It has moved over 3,000 smallholder horticulture farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Mozambique from food production for consumption to accessing over 17 global markets through technology based farming. The duo trains farmers on agriculture management and good farming practices that meet international standards before connecting them with international buyers.

It is a venture that was birthed after the two experienced firsthand the problems their families went through in trying to access profitable markets. After graduating from university they made a resolve to address this gap.

On the other hand 27 year old Nthabiseng Mosia from South Africa has positioned his Easy Solar Company to address the plight of tens of thousands of South Africans who are not connected to the national grid by availing solar powered devices through a rent-to-own model that has reached over 40,000 people since it began operations in 2016. The two young entrepreneurs capture the new wave driving East and Southern Africa’s economic renaissance.

Vanguard youthful innovators are transforming the region into a tech powerhouse through modern innovations that are not only providing homegrown solutions to some of the most biting local problems but catapulting the region into international recognition.

It is a situation that has now snowballed across Africa in what points to the potential of young people to drive the economic transformation of the region with the entrepreneurship spirit spanning SME, real estate, financial services, agribusiness and technology. 

With six out of every 10 Africans being under 25 years, Africa has the most youthful population world over currently standing at 230 million and expected to double by 2050. It is a phenomenon that analysts and experts have hailed as pivotal in driving the much needed economic growth and development of a continent that is betting on its human capital.

“This is the perfect time to reap from the demographic dividends of the youthful, enterprising generation of the African youth majority of who are educated, adventurous and seem to have interesting ideas about solving most of the pressing continental problems. However they need empowerment and guidance, and this is where governments, the private sector and friends of Africa must step in,” said Patrick Nyaoga a Kenyan based economist and a lecturer at the University of Nairobi School of Economics.

But the impressive numbers of the youthful African generation could also portend a danger for the continent whose economies have the highest number of unemployed youth globally. 

According to the World Bank, up to 12 million African youth join the labour force annually despite the continent only creating 3.7 jobs each year.

With no jobs, poverty, a sense of disenfranchisement and frustration then drives majority of them to source for quick, alternative and sometimes dangerous sources of income including joining terror and rebel groups, and the unprecedented migration to Europe in search of better days. Africa Development Bank, the continent’s foremost development finance institution, estimates that 40 per cent of Africans who join rebel movements are motivated by lack of economic opportunities.

"Africa must stop being a museum of poverty. Its people are determined to reverse this trend. The future of young Africans is not in Europe, their destiny is not to end their lives in the Mediterranean Sea,” the bank’s president said in June while addressing journalists at the 53rd Annual Meetings of the Bank in Busan, Korea.

Professor Ruth Oniang’o the 2017 Africa Food Prize winner and the founder of Rural Outreach agrees insisting that the wealth of opportunities that Africa has should be channeled to its vibrant youth which would translate into employment opportunities for them while placing them at the driving seat of the continent’s transformation.

“We have this big dream of leapfrogging the continent to mid-economic status and uplifting the social, economic and political lives of our people. The greatest investment in helping us achieve this is our enviable human capital that lies in our youth. We need to inculcate in them not just the spirit of going to school but also translating what they learn into gainful activities that start to solve African problems. And it is not just waiting to be employed, but being job creators and empowering their fellow peers,” she said.

The youth who have risen to this call have become the epitome of the power the young people in transforming their societies.

 “We wanted to make a change to what was becoming a norm. That despite the fact that over 70 per cent of Africans rely on agriculture for income and more than 100 million families rely on small family farms to survive, the cycle of poverty was becoming more serious. We had to think of a way to change the sorry state of affairs. Technology offered us this option. We are happy that we are changing the fortunes of smallholder farmers in Kenya and East Africa, one fresh produce at a time,” Oroko said.

“As a continent, we have not given the youth the requisite support and environment to let them flourish. The dominant narrative that the youth are leaders of tomorrow should cease. We need to inculcate in them a sense of duty, pride and recognition if we want Africa to propel forward. Look at what they have achieved without the much needed support. Imagine what they would do if they had it,” Patrick added.

Cognizant of the urgent need to tap into this young constituency and address the twin problems of migration and unemployment, governments, private sector and development institutions have rolled out a host of initiatives that are geared towards shifting the youth from job seekers to job creators through entrepreneurship.

Africa Development Bank, through its youth strategy, has been running the largest venture aimed at addressing youth unemployment in the continent. Founded on the principles of investment, integration and innovation, the strategy targets to benefit 50 million youths in ten years with skills that will empower them to get decent jobs while creating more than 25 million jobs. Since its inception in 2016, it has already spent $400 million in public and private initiatives in Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Kenya among other African countries.

“While Africa’s economic growth is positive, there is an urgent need to promote inclusive economic transformation and jobs-induced growth to improve the quality of life for all Africans. If properly harnessed, the increase in young population could support increased productivity and stronger, more inclusive economic growth across the continent,” read a section of the report by the bank titled Jobs for Youth in Africa: Strategy for creating 25 million jobs and equipping 50 million youth 2016-2025.

Experts while lauding this initiative insist that it needs a holistic approach that enlists the support of especially governments to create a conducive environment for the would-be entrepreneurs.

“This is one of the most ambitious strategies to have been developed in the continent to address unemployment. It has such huge potential to empower so many youth but it requires utmost political will. We cannot have such a great strategy without African governments’ backing. Otherwise it will just be another document that accumulates dust in shelves,’ Patrick said.

John Oroko on the other hand says what youthful entrepreneurs and startups require in government support is improved cost of doing business, infrastructural development and easier access to credit. “Some of us young people running startups just want government to consider the tax regimes, make roads accessible and open up government financial institutions to affordable credit for the youth. When our company goes to the rural areas to pick fresh produce from farmers, we need good roads, cheaper cost of energy for our coolers and access to finance our operations when times are tough,” he said.

With almost every African country having an economic blueprint that guides the next phase of their economic development and attaining mid-level economic status, and with the continent’s flagship agenda on economic transformation now on course, the pace of implementation is primarily hinged how the continent enlists its young people to drive that agenda. With an estimated population of 452 million by 2050, the young people of Africa will continue shaping the face of the continent, analysts say. “We can achieve the 2063 Agenda even earlier than envisioned. But have we made the young people own this agenda? Have we allowed them to identify with this agenda? And it is not just the usual rhetoric but in how much we practically allow them to build the continent. That is what will make a difference between poverty and prosperity for Africa moving forward,” Prof. Oniang’o said.