Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Panel
Building Tomorrow's Agents of Change Across Africa
Milken InstituteCarole Biau, Clare Akamanzi, Frank Aswani, Jingdong Hua, Daphne Kis, Jennifer Pryce, Chen Goldberg, Jenna Taylor, Anne-Marie Slainier, Caroline Hunter, Wilmilton Kwong Wong Iwasaki
- Commodity prices are expected to decline over the next few decades, prompting a shift from natural resource competition to global competition for human capital, with Africa positioned as the largest talent pool.
- Youth unemployment is identified as a primary future risk for a growing generation of educated youth, potentially leading to a crisis if economic opportunities are not created locally to prevent brain drain to Europe or America.
- Specific talent development plans include the IFC/Milken Institute program training 1,000 regulators over five to ten years to evolve into senior finance leaders, and World Quant University graduating its first cohort by year-end.
- Entrepreneurial training initiatives aim to have every student run a business on campus with a projected turnover of five retirements and five new launches annually, while another program plans to place 300 interns across 32 African countries every summer.
- Projected outcomes for internship programs indicate that students completing nine to twelve months are six times more likely to secure employment, with 60% of college graduates expected to find jobs directly through their final year internship.
- A long-term expectation exists that roughly 70% of Academy graduates will return to Africa within a month of graduating, though current immigration laws are cited as barriers preventing cross-border hiring to fill skill gaps.
- Small businesses are anticipated to continue generating 80% of jobs in low-income countries and 90% of new jobs annually, with scaling businesses facing talent scarcity as their primary challenge ahead of financing constraints.
- Economic diversification is expected to accelerate due to falling commodity prices, encouraging reliance on agribusiness, services, and manufacturing, particularly in commodity-dependent nations like the DRC.
- New business models are predicted to emerge focusing on competency over pedigree, and impact funds are expected to integrate technical assistance for talent development into their core operations.
- Technical skills such as Python and data science are forecasted to become critical, enabling African talent to leapfrog legacy systems and adopt advanced tools through expanded online programs and local peer communities.
- Gender equity is a focus area, with a target for balanced classes (10 women, 10 men) in specific training cohorts and acknowledgment of a significant 89% to 11% male-to-female student ratio challenge in fields like computer science.
- Financial mobilization strategies include the African Union financing 0.2% of import duties to reduce aid dependency and discussions on recovering an estimated $150 billion to $200 billion in stolen African funds from foreign banks.
- Infrastructure and regulatory reforms, such as Rwanda's fiber optics and ease of doing business rankings, are expected to attract top-tier universities and draw non-local students to regional educational clusters.
- Systems change is deemed necessary to ensure full population engagement, particularly regarding gender equity and income disparity, while liberal immigration policies are seen as essential to correct skill shortages across borders.
- Leadership expectations include government officials acting as agents of change by developing enabling regulatory frameworks and shifting mindsets toward continental self-determination to reduce dependency.
- Project funding crowds of $8 billion for offshore gas projects are cited as a model for other nations, while the return of stolen funds remains a critical area for future action.
- The demographic advantage is expected to create either significant opportunities or a crisis characterized by poor youth opportunities, depending on the successful execution of these plans and the reduction of barriers to free movement.