Though current and historic issues persist that impact high unemployment – Africans are more educated, more skilled and more eager than ever to join the workforce. Approximately 20 million young Africans join the workforce every year. Africa also has a combined population of 1.3 billion people with an average age of 19 and at least 70% under the age of 30 within sub-Saharan Africa – which makes Africa the region with the youngest population in the world.

Younger populations means more global awareness, consumption of global content & thus globally integrated. A globalized youth in turn provides a key demographic of workers who are culturally aligned to the western world – Africans especially are highly multilingual with around 237 million English speakers overall in Africa along with German, French, Italian & Spanish speakers. Couple these two factors with a population that is increasingly digitally capable and reliant (an expected 5.5 billion will have mobile internet access in 2025) and you have a market with enormously untapped potential. Some key figures that exemplify the various benefits and potential within the region:

• South Africa has a 64% unemployment rate (for youths 18 – 35 year olds) from various social backgrounds though a majority of this is made up of people in underprivileged communities.
• Ethiopia’s primary school enrollment has increased drastically from 34% in 2000 to 81% in 2015 as part of an overall effort to boost education in the country – signifying a larger pool of eventual graduates of working age.
• Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with over 70% of the population under the age of 30 and has had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, which is resulting in an expanding middle class with greater purchasing power.
• In Rwanda mobile internet subscribers reached 7 million by 2019, creating the base for digitalization of other services such as financial, agriculture, health, and admin services. Though a smaller population than many other African nations – their robust investment into developing a population of digital natives has put it on the map for highly technical skills at a lower cost.