Africa's growing youth population can provide a large workforce for production and, if properly trained, generate significant market demand. To harness this potential, Africa should prioritize education and training tailored to its needs, particularly in agriculture and other productive sectors, notes Kalu Ojah, Professor of Finance at Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in an interview with African Currents.
"It [Africa's youth bulge] presents two advantages. One is: it's a potential huge source of production input in terms of human capital. The second part is: if that human capital is carefully developed successfully, it also creates a source of market demand. So, the splintered market that the free trade area is designed to create—a large-scale market—that would benefit from higher demands coming from this demographic advantage of the youth bulge. Strategically, the steps will be to leverage the youth by evolving education and training that is in the African context," Professor Ojah says.
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