How can we harness the potential of the African youth to create a brighter and more prosperous future for the continent and the world? This is the question that many leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators are asking themselves as they witness the remarkable growth and dynamism of the young generation in Africa.

According to the United Nations, Africa is home to more than 1.3 billion people, of which about 60% are under the age of 25. This makes Africa the youngest continent in the world, and also the fastest growing one. By 2050, Africa’s population is projected to double, reaching 2.5 billion people, and accounting for a quarter of the world’s population.

This demographic dividend offers a unique opportunity for Africa to transform its economy, society, and environment, and to play a leading role in the global arena. However, this opportunity also comes with significant challenges, such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, conflict, climate change, and health crises.

To overcome these challenges and unleash the full potential of the African youth, we need to invest in their education, skills, health, and well-being, and provide them with access to opportunities, resources, and networks.

One of the most promising ways to do this is through entrepreneurship and innovation. Entrepreneurship is not only a means of creating wealth and jobs, but also a way of solving problems, addressing needs, and improving lives.

Innovation is not only a source of competitive advantage and growth, but also a driver of social change and environmental sustainability. Together, entrepreneurship and innovation can empower the African youth to become agents of positive change in their communities and beyond.

There are many examples of successful young entrepreneurs and innovators in Africa who are making a difference in various sectors, such as agriculture, energy, health, education, fintech, e-commerce, and media.

Some of them have received global recognition and support from prestigious platforms and organizations, such as the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 list, the Anzisha Prize, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the YALI Network, and the Obama Foundation.

Here are some of their stories:

Divine Ndhlukula is the founder and managing director of SECURICO, one of Zimbabwe’s largest security companies. She started her business in 1998 with only four employees and $4,000 in savings. Today, she employs over 3,500 people, 900 of whom are women. She has won several awards for her entrepreneurship and leadership skills, including the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship and the Legatum Africa Awards.

William Kamkwamba is a Malawian inventor and engineer who built a windmill from scrap materials when he was 14 years old. He used the windmill to power his family’s home and later built more windmills to pump water for irrigation.

He has written a book about his experience called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and has given a TED talk that has been viewed over 10 million times. He has also co-founded an innovation center in Malawi called Wimbe Community Innovation Center.

Temie Giwa-Tubosun is a Nigerian American entrepreneur and health advocate who founded LifeBank, a medical distribution company that delivers blood and oxygen to hospitals in Nigeria using technology and logistics. She launched her venture in 2016 after witnessing the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria due to blood shortages.

She has saved over 10,000 lives through her service and has expanded to Kenya and Ethiopia. She has received several accolades for her work, including the Jack Ma Foundation Africa Netpreneur Prize and the Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader.

Kelvin Doe is a Sierra Leonean inventor and engineer who built his own radio station from recycled materials when he was 15 years old. He used his radio station to broadcast news and music to his community under the name DJ Focus. He has also created batteries, generators, and transmitters from scrap metal.

He became the youngest person ever to participate in the MIT Visiting Practitioner’s Program and has spoken at TEDx Teen and Google Zeitgeist. He has also founded an innovation hub in Sierra Leone called Innovate Salone.

Rapelang Rabana is a South African entrepreneur and computer scientist who founded Rekindle Learning, an online learning platform that uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to personalize learning experiences for students and professionals.

She started her venture in 2013 after co-founding Yeigo Communications, one of Africa’s first mobile VoIP applications. She has been named as one of Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 Best Young Entrepreneurs and one of BBC’s 100 Women.

These young leaders are inspiring millions of other young Africans to follow their footsteps and pursue their dreams. They are also creating a vibrant ecosystem of mentors, peers, investors, partners, and customers that supports and enables their ventures. They are showing the world that African youth are not just consumers or beneficiaries of development, but also creators and contributors of value.

The future of Africa and the world depends on the success of these young entrepreneurs and innovators. They are the ones who will shape the next wave of economic development, social progress, and environmental stewardship. They are the ones who will bridge the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. They are the ones who will prove that African youth plus opportunity equals an unstoppable global future.

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It looks very challenging with many reports thundering on the escalating poverty in Nigeria: “Multinational professional services brand of firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwC), in its recent report, has forecasted Nigeria’s poverty rate to reach 38.8% in 2024.” Yet, this should not be the end of the story. Nigeria has great tools to quickly move out of this economic stasis and visioning miry clay.

The new invention of transferring money to some poor families is very strange to me. The last administration started it, and I was expecting that to be discontinued by the new government. Unfortunately, that has been sustained. What would N20,000 or whatever do to a family of six in a month?

My recommendation when Buhari introduced it is to use the funds and structure a partnership with community development unions. Michael Okpara, ex-premier of Eastern Nigeria, used that model to advance massive transformation in the region. Those rural communities can administer these funds better than bureaucrats through a consultative process which will deliver agro support with silos, farm seeds, trading, etc.

Randomly picking 500 people in a community of 5,000 for N20k transfer does not look fair and sustainable. But building mini-catalysts for those 5,000 rural people may unlock opportunities for all. And if you support those 5,000 people to do those things by themselves, as Okpara did, you will see a better outcome. Yes, poverty will likely drop in a sustained way. Check the records of our first generation leaders, they built through communities because power was localized; today, we do not even consult and that must change.

(Statistically, most rural poor citizens are farmers. If they have access to coldroom or better access to market, you can help them. The cash transfer if managed by the community unions can provide catalysts over random lottery)

Summary:

Ndubuisi advocates against individual cash transfers in addressing p??verty in Nigeria, proposing instead a model where funds are transferred to community development unions to invest in mini-catalysts, fostering rural development for a more sustainable impact.

— Summarize (@summarizest) January 26, 2024

Imagine a fund for rural communities. To unlock this fund, communities, send proposals on local economic plans and we will contribute 90% of your budget. NO cash transfers to individuals; YES fund transfer to community development unions to invest in mini-catalysts to lift rural people.

Nigeria Poverty Rate to Reach 38.8% in 2024 – PwC Report

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the $3.3 billion emergency loan secured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) last year from Afreximbank.

In a post titled “Tinubu’s administration owes Nigerians an explanation for the NNPC $3.3bn emergency loan,” shared on X Thursday, Abubakar called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to clarify the framework and details of the loan, expressing curiosity over the government’s silence on the matter.

The emergency loan, secured on August 16, 2023, was intended to boost the performance of the naira in the foreign exchange market, as stated by the NNPC. The deal is supposed to be a crude-for-cash loan arranged by the African Export-Import Bank.

However, the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) pointed out that the Nigerian government has remained tight-lipped about the deal, with information disseminated solely through unofficial sources from the NNPC.

One notable aspect of the transaction is the involvement of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Project Gazelle Funding Limited, incorporated in the Bahamas. Abubakar questioned the choice of registering the company in the Bahamas, given the country’s recent association with financial scandals like the Paradise Papers.

“What is even more confounding about this deal is why the Federal Government would register a company in the Bahamas, knowing full well the recent scandal of the Paradise Papers that involved that country,” he said.

According to available information, the SPV is the borrower, with NNPC as the sponsor, agreeing to repay the loan through crude oil at an interest rate slightly exceeding 12 percent, he further remarked.

Abubakar expressed concern about the details of the deal, especially given Nigeria’s daily crude production of 1.38 million barrels and the commitment to supply 90,000 barrels daily from 2024 until reaching 164.25 million barrels for loan repayment.

The former vice president highlighted a significant discrepancy in the repayment amount, estimating a staggering $12 billion based on Nigeria’s crude benchmark price of $77.96 per barrel in 2024.

“Now, this is where the details get disturbing because Nigeria’s benchmark for the sale of crude per barrel in 2024 is $77.96. A simple multiplication of that figure by 164.25 will give us a whopping $12bn,” he said.

“It is inconceivable that the Federal Government will lead the country to take a loan of $3.3b with an interest rate that is not more than 12 percent, but with estimated repayment amounting to $12bn.

“That is a humongous differential of about $7b between what is in the details of the deal on paper and what indeed is the reality.”

Abubakar emphasized the need for the federal government to address the unclear aspects of the deal, calling it into question and urging transparency.

“There are questions to be answered on the integrity of this deal, and we earnestly request the Federal Government to talk directly on these cloudy details behind the deal,” he said.

In his statement, the PDP chieftain demanded, “on behalf of the ordinary people of Nigeria, that the Federal Government provides answers to the following questions.”

1. Has the Federal Government accessed the loan?
2. Is the loan in the government’s borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly?
3. Who are the parties to the loan, and what specific roles are they expected to play?
4. What are the conditions of the loan, including tenor, repayment terms, the collateral, and the interest rate?
5. And, lastly, why register an SPV in the Bahamas knowing the recent scandal of the country’s notoriety for warehousing unclean assets?

Atiku is not the only Nigerian who has voiced concerns over the loan. Several analysts have said that there is more to the deal than meets the eye, and the federal government owes Nigerians some explanations. Kelvin Emmanuel, CEO of Dairy Hills, an energy expert and financial analyst, had earlier expressed concerns about the legality and implications of the loan.

Emmanuel meticulously examined the loan agreement, identifying inconsistencies that he deemed could establish a perilous precedent for the economy. He drew attention to elements like the daily allotment of crude, the overall repayment duration, the configuration of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), and the management of price differentials between forward sales and spot prices.

In his analysis, Emmanuel postulated that the transaction structure might be forming a pseudo-excess crude account, potentially depriving Nigeria of the advantages associated with fluctuations in the global oil markets. He expressed disapproval of loans secured by resources and drew a parallel between the forward sales agreement and the financialization of future oil and gas assets.

“I am NOT a fan of resource-backed loans, and this forward sales agreement that is akin to financialization of future oil and gas assets is an anomaly in statecraft that the National Assembly should fight with all rigor,” Emmanuel remarked. “There is no genius in it; it is a lazy approach to getting FX dollars to improve your balance of payment position.”

As the call for transparency intensifies, the public awaits a response from the authorities to shed light on the intricacies of the NNPC’s $3.3 billion emergency loan. In December, the NNPC reportedly received $2.5 billion tranche of the loan. The company, last week, unveiled its strategy for deploying the loan.