Despite Africa's impressive growth in past 25 years and its entry into the digital economy, the job market continues to be in a depressed state as youth unemployment continues to rise. Africa has the largest population of young people in the world, some 200-million aged between 15 and 24, accounting for 60% of all of Africa's jobless. This is alarming to say the least, as youth employment has the potential to drive economic development in Africa.
The question is "What steps can we take to address this?" Africa needs a way out of poverty, and entrepreneurship may be key. It has the potential to create millions of jobs in Africa and youth entrepreneurs may bring about the positive change we urgently need. While an increasing number of young people are looking into entrepreneurship, there are many challenges facing this sector such as the lack of access to information, finance, networking and mentoring. These four pillars are critical in modern-day entrepreneurship, as well as taking on a virtual presence in the digital economy. Everything around us is connected, and entrepreneurs need to embody the virtual world in order to be successful in smart cities of the future. But challenges relating to the four pillars in the virtual world need to be addressed in order to give Africa's youth a fighting chance.
Young entrepreneurs require mentoring, and trust is a crucial element of this. In the past, this relationship would have been established over a period of time or through a structured mentoring process which is more than a once-off event. But this is not how it works in today's world.
Mentoring happens in the virtual world where it has become increasingly difficult to build trust without physical face-to-face interaction. Entrepreneurs are sceptical and unlikely to share details or sensitive information with a mentor on the internet without being able to trust that person first.
Networking is standard practice for business professionals who want to establish contacts and relationships. It is a process that helps foster the exchange of information and ideas among individuals who share a common interest. Virtual networking is challenging because a growing number of business networks only want to support mature entrepreneurs rather than youth.
This has resulted in minimal opportunities for young entrepreneurs. There are a few fellowships with a virtual presence in Africa, but they are not enough for the level of networking that is needed.
When it comes to funding and capital investments, transactions are rarely done through a virtual platform. It requires a physical presence and face-to-face interaction. However, there are some initiatives that do have online support and assist in finding potential capital providers. This linking of entrepreneurs to investors is crucial if there is to be any real market development and growth of entrepreneurs.
Most initiatives focussing on youth entrepreneurship aim to provide information and advisory services of some kind, while virtual platforms provide specific information. However, due to the rapid pace of the digitised works, this information tends to be outdated after a short period of time.
The challenges facing youth entrepreneurs in Africa are broad and varied, and this was precisely the reason why the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) decided to establish a virtual platform for entrepreneurs. The UNDP's Regional Service Centre in Africa engaged stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of a pan-African entrepreneurship portal called YAS (Youth for Africa and Sustainable Development Goals) to address the four main pillars for the betterment of Africa and its youth.
The objective is to help young entrepreneurs move away from being jobseekers towards becoming job creators. This is important because the United Nations estimates that by 2050, the world population will have grown by 2,2-billion people, half of whom will be African. This population explosion will have far-reaching implications for Africa's labour force.
The youth can be Africa's greatest asset. Youth employment has the capacity to drive economic development and it is therefore critical that all sectors work together to improve access to finance and skills so that these youth have the tools they need to build and develop a sustainable Africa.