How Technology and Talent are Fast Becoming the Drivers of Africa’s Economic Growth
Africa, the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, is a hub of hugely untapped talent. As a growing global talent pool, the continent’s potential is underplayed by several variables and fortes specific to each country. Yet, within this creative upheaval, the adoption of technology and digital media has contributed immensely to the growth of human capital in the past decade, with many countries in the continent creating policies that allow foreign direct investments for rapid economic advancement.
Largely regarded as a developing continent while most of the countries are developing economies, Africa’s late adoption of technology, in many ways, now positions her as a new global talent pool. Therefore, while the developed continents are saturated with talent, Africa still embraces the requisite skills and capabilities to thrive. As a result, organisations and businesses are willing to pay less for similar skills in Africa than in their host countries.
Research shows that Africa has more people joining the labour force over the next 20 years than the rest of the world combined. It’s no surprise because half of the world’s youth population by 2040 will consist of Africans. Within this plurality lies Nigeria, Africa’s most populous black nation, whose huge population explosion is aided by cultural beliefs, societal expectations, and a relaxed national policy on birth control.
Young people in Africa are hungry to cast the die in their favour and are willing to learn. This makes them driven and super focused, such that budding talents have matured into highly educated professionals who are tech-savvy and perform at world-class levels. Companies like Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, for example, are putting their lot with African professionals because they are assured of their value, brilliance and work ethic. According to Fred Swaniker, co-founder of Africa Leadership Academy, graduates from his institution can compete with other graduates from known universities like Harvard and Yale and are being hired by top companies like Google, Facebook and Goldman Sachs. This is corroborated by Parul, who notes that Africa possesses the potential to fill up the talent gap, even if much of that talent has not been penetrated.
Also, with more young Africans getting interested in tech, companies like Andela have helped push African experts to the world by training top talents. Thanks to its competitive selection process and acceptance rate of 0.7%, which is lower than Harvard’s 6%. Jeremy Johnson, CEO and Co-founder of Andela, in an article, listed four reasons why Africa is the rising star of the tech world and why hiring managers should look to Africa as a source for top tech talent. One of the reasons, of course, is the rising use of technology in Africa and how it is expected to increase rapidly across the continent in the coming years. Andela’s successful venture into Nigeria in 2014 is evidence that Africa’s talent market is ripe for expansion.
From the foregoing, two things are certain: technology has been heralded as a key driver of prosperity in Africa, and Africans are adopting it rapidly. This explains the growth of internet usage in Africa from 2.1% in 2005 to 24.4% in 2018.
On the other hand, global giants have also begun to associate with and invest in Africa. For example, in 2018, Microsoft invested $100 million in opening technology development centres in Kenya and Nigeria. After three years of successful operations, the company announced the opening of two new offices — the first ever engineering offices in Africa — for the African Development Center(ADC) in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria. And guess what? They are not stopping there.
Furthermore, in 2019, Google set up its first Africa AI lab in Ghana. In the past two weeks, the company has invested an undisclosed amount in Lori Systems, an African digital logistics company – a third of such investments by Google in Africa.
Entrepreneurial hubs like CCHub in Lagos have structured themselves as social innovation centres to help tech entrepreneurs launch viable companies. Thus, Africa currently has a whooping 618 active hubs of forward-looking training centres promoting digital literacy.
This shows that Africa is becoming a suitable business environment as the different countries are beginning to possess facilities that accommodate businesses. EY’s 2021 Attractiveness Report shows that Africa is an attractive investment destination with natural resources that give the potential for growth and innovation, with countries like Mauritius, Rwanda, Morocco, and Kenya championing the facilitation of convenient ventures.
Source: Statista.com
Africa has become the obvious partner for Europe’s labour shortage. With remote work becoming mainstream, it has become easier to source talent from Africa to fill the demands in Europe. Talenteum, a Mauritius-based start-up, aims to help companies beyond the shores of Africa to source and employ remote-working teams living mainly in Africa. Co-founder Nicholas Goldstein says the company serves approximately 60 European organisations, and about 90% of customers return yearly. With the company handling payroll, HR support and benefit for international teams, clients are enabled to hire and manage full-time talents in Africa productively.
Projections show that Africa will nearly double its workforce by 2035. This means that Africa is a huge market, a repository of talents with great potential. The continent may have been at the backend regarding expertise in previous years, but a change of fate lies in the cusp of youthful hands — determined, brilliant, and skilled.
***
Modurotoluwa Ajayi is a Talent Manager and Business Partner at ID Africa.
