The Youth Café was privileged to have been invited to take part in this year’s Babacar Ndiaye Lecture, which took place virtually on Wednesday, 20 October 2021 at 4:00 p.m. Nairobi Time. This year's keynote lecture was under the theme "The importance of science, technology and innovation in the transformation of African economies under the AfCFTA" and was delivered by Prof. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, first female President of Mauritius and 2007 laureate of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards.
Advancing Jobs, Entrepreneurship, And Capacity Development For African Youth | The Youth Cafe
There is no greater asset to Africa than its youth,” a statement that has been repeatedly proclaimed, but the continent still has a long way to go. Despite robust economic growth over the past two decades, a 1 percent increase in growth between 2000–14 was associated with only 0.41 percent growth in employment. This figure suggests that employment stood at less than 1.8 percent a year, far below the nearly 3 percent annual growth in the labor force. If this trend continues, 100 million people will join the multitudes of the unemployed in Africa by 2030.