Africa-Press – Ghana. COVID-19 can do for Africa’s information technology sector what Y2K, or the Millennium bug, did for India’s. India used the global crisis, tapping into their vast youth population to train millions of software engineers to combat the problem. Those engineers now run multinational companies around the world. And Africa can do the same in the wake of the pandemic, said Fred Swaniker, the founder and chief executive officer of the African Leadership Group (ALG).
This message underpinned Swaniker’s 13 April lecture, “The Impact of African Youth on the 4th Industrial Revolution”, the first in the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) 2022 series of Vice-Chancellor Open Lectures.
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly scaled up the adoption of digital technologies across the globe, with far-reaching changes as connections went virtual. Zoom went from a nice-to-have to a necessity, said Swaniker. But the move to digital technologies highlighted massive shortages of technology talent, particularly in Africa where economies and government policies were lagging.
“African governments and companies realised that they required software developers, cloud developers and other tech talent to keep their businesses running, and organisations were evolving from physical to completely remote workspaces,” he said.
By the end of the century, Africa will make up 40% of the world’s population yet it has only 2.6% of the world’s software engineers, said Swaniker. With its massive youth population, Africa has the talent to satisfy the local and global demand; but it must be developed in numbers and fast.
New leaders for Africa
One of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2019, Swaniker is on a mission to develop better, skilled leadership for Africa and the world: three million young African leaders by 2035.The conduit is the ALG, described as “an ecosystem of organisations that aims to catalyse a new era of ethical, entrepreneurial African leaders for the continent”. Over the past 15 years, Swaniker has founded and led the African Leadership Academy, the African Leadership University, the African Leadership Network and The Room. This is a community of global leaders that unlocks opportunities for “undiscovered” talent, starting in Africa.
“During the pandemic, we started training the software engineering talent, leveraging technology and doing so at a very low cost and very high speed,” he said. “Collectively, these endeavours aim to transform Africa by developing three million African leaders by 2035.”
Africa has the world’s youngest working population (an average age of 19 compared with Germany’s and Japan’s 47 and 48) and is forecast to have the largest workforce by 2035: 1.1 billion people.
“Now the world is the oyster for a young African software engineer. You can be an engineer sitting in Ghana and working for Zara in Spain. You can be sitting in South Africa working for Microsoft in London … You no longer have to leave your country, your home, your village … This is an incredible opportunity for us to export … talent but without the brain drain.”
For the first time in history, jobs without borders are a reality, he said. According to a recent report, about 38% of African software developers already work for companies outside the continent.
“There is a unique opportunity for African youth to power the global workforce.”
And like those Indian IT specialists who left India for jobs abroad, some landing top jobs with Microsoft and Google and other technology companies, they can bring back ideas that will grow the sector and their countries’ economies.
“It’s a very, very exciting time. And it is just waiting for African youth.”
Beyond the classroom
But this opportunity requires new ways of education. The success of ALG’s method is learning beyond the classroom, not only theory but practical skills tackling real-world projects, Swaniker noted.
“For example, the software engineers we’re training build software. They’re not just learning theory; they’re delivering projects and learning on the job. This is how talent should be developed. We have to go beyond the classroom if we’re going to unleash this potential.”
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