Many thanks to Magatte Wade for this very stimulating write-up. Youth unemployment remains a major challenge in almost all African countries. However, the crux of the problem is not education per se, but lack of relevant education that will align with labour market demands. The present technological age demands technical skills. So, the education curriculum in Africa needs urgent review and complete overhaul. African universities are still teaching colonial courses and using colonial curriculum thereby producing unemployable graduates.
Going forward, there is urgent need to remove all barriers which frustrate businesses and stifle entrepreneurship. Enabling environment is vital to the promotion of economic liberty and poverty eradication.
Thank you! I absolutely agree that we need to remove the barriers that frustrate businesses and stifle entrepreneurship. And relevant education is key!
Excellent article. Your point that "the more educated a young African person is, the higher the rates of unemployment they experience" is quite shocking.
You are correct, Africans needs jobs not education.
I would add that the only Africans can create jobs with high value-added export industries (as East Asia did). These industries inject wealth into the region and accelerate economic growth. This wealth can then be spent locally by its employees, generating demand for a gaggle of smaller local businesses. They also create a revenue stream for governments to invest in education, health, transportation, sanitation and energy infrastructure.
There are the traditional methods of trying to change burdensome regulations bit by bit. That's always a good place to start, but the piecemeal approach is going to take forever. My preferred solution is setting up Startup Cities, where we can implement commercial legal codes favorable to entrepreneurship, and when those cities succeed, we'll have an even stronger case for spreading those better business policies, systems, and practices elsewhere.
That's very interesting. Sounds like Singapore, as you had mentioned. You can guess my next question: How do we set up these Start-up Cities? Do you have a piece of a Wakanda-like property?
We do have a 3,000 hectare site in West Africa (I can't be more specific yet), and we have enough autonomy to build a business ecosystem that works. I've written more about that project in these 2 posts if you're interested! https://magatte.substack.com/p/4-keys-to-making-africa-insanely
Many thanks to Magatte Wade for this very stimulating write-up. Youth unemployment remains a major challenge in almost all African countries. However, the crux of the problem is not education per se, but lack of relevant education that will align with labour market demands. The present technological age demands technical skills. So, the education curriculum in Africa needs urgent review and complete overhaul. African universities are still teaching colonial courses and using colonial curriculum thereby producing unemployable graduates.
Going forward, there is urgent need to remove all barriers which frustrate businesses and stifle entrepreneurship. Enabling environment is vital to the promotion of economic liberty and poverty eradication.
Thank you! I absolutely agree that we need to remove the barriers that frustrate businesses and stifle entrepreneurship. And relevant education is key!
Excellent article. Your point that "the more educated a young African person is, the higher the rates of unemployment they experience" is quite shocking.
You are correct, Africans needs jobs not education.
I would add that the only Africans can create jobs with high value-added export industries (as East Asia did). These industries inject wealth into the region and accelerate economic growth. This wealth can then be spent locally by its employees, generating demand for a gaggle of smaller local businesses. They also create a revenue stream for governments to invest in education, health, transportation, sanitation and energy infrastructure.
So how does one make governments facilitate entrepreneurship in Africa?
There are the traditional methods of trying to change burdensome regulations bit by bit. That's always a good place to start, but the piecemeal approach is going to take forever. My preferred solution is setting up Startup Cities, where we can implement commercial legal codes favorable to entrepreneurship, and when those cities succeed, we'll have an even stronger case for spreading those better business policies, systems, and practices elsewhere.
That's very interesting. Sounds like Singapore, as you had mentioned. You can guess my next question: How do we set up these Start-up Cities? Do you have a piece of a Wakanda-like property?
We do have a 3,000 hectare site in West Africa (I can't be more specific yet), and we have enough autonomy to build a business ecosystem that works. I've written more about that project in these 2 posts if you're interested! https://magatte.substack.com/p/4-keys-to-making-africa-insanely
https://magatte.substack.com/p/here-comes-africa
Thanks for the information - I am a Cameroonian architect, so if you need me, I would love to contribute in any capacity!