Africa is arguably undergoing the most rapid and far-reaching changes of any region in the world, as a swelling population, consistent economic growth and greater digitisation of goods and services herald a new era of opportunity for progress and prosperity.

The continent’s urban population is expected to swell by an estimated 24 million people every year between 2015 and 2045, with implied increases in consumption.

By 2030, Africa’s under-18 population will grow by nearly 170 million, according to data by Unicef, and young Africans are expected to make up 42% of the world’s youth population by 2030. By the middle of the century, two in every five children under the age of 18 will live in Africa.

This demographic dividend, if given the correct mix of skills development and economic opportunity, could transform Africa’s fortunes and usher in a rapid economic development similar to that of Vietnam and China over the past twenty years.

How we collectively approach the next ten years could determine whether West Africa – and the continent as a whole – realises its potential and achieves greater prosperity for its growing population.

Africa on the move

Today, Africa accounts for 17% of the world’s population but only 3% of global GDP. This is due to change.

By 2025, household consumption in Africa could reach an estimated $2.1-trillion, and business consumption $3.5-trillion. The launch of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement has effectively started the process of creating a growing market of $1.3-trillion with a consumer base of 1.3 billion.

While the pandemic has had a devastating effect on governments, citizens and businesses across Africa, there is much cause for hope and optimism. In West Africa and elsewhere on the continent, the growing adoption of digital technologies combined with African ingenuity and innovation are contributing to a transformation of the continent’s cities, schools, businesses and governments.

Transforming learning and education

The pandemic has had a severe impact on schools and education, with many countries instituting lockdowns that kept kids out of school. The forced switch to remote work has created greater urgency within education departments across the region to fast track the process of building better e-learning capabiltiies.

The share of West African youth with post-secondary education is also rapidly increasing, from 13% in 2000 to 23% in 2020. If countries in the region can implement an accelerated education policy, we could see this share jump to 71% by 2040.

By 2030, we may well see urban and rural schools using hybrid teaching models that combine in-school and distance learning. The continued role of initiatives such as 51ˇçÁ÷Africa Code Week, which has introduced millions of kids to basic coding and digital skills since its launch in 2015, will be vital as public and private sector partners work with governments across the region to equip youth with the essential skills needed to succeed in the global digital economy.

Connectivity, digitisation creating new opportunities

Connectivity remains a challenge to improving not only the region’s e-learning capabilities, but its wider adoption of digital services. In 2015, only 15% of the population across West Africa had access to 4G technology, but this rate leapt to 63% by 2020.

The arrival of 5G in the region will accelerate connectivity and help establish entirely new ways to learn, do business, purchase products and engage with government services. This faster connectivity may also see an acceleration of telco operator efforts at diversifying. Expect to see greater innovation in payments and digital services as telcos introduce tailored new offerings to subscribers.

The switch to remote work has initiated an accelerated process of digital transformation in West African workplaces. Expect to see more mature systems and processes guiding remote and hybrid work models, with potentially new innovations from the region’s healthy startup ecosystem.

The rise of regional technology hubs that can house and incubate a new breed of African innovation-led business also point to a bright future. West Africa is already home to 142 technopoles, regional technology hubs where a new breed of innovative African businesses can start-up and grow. These include the IT & Biotechnology Village in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as incubators such as Jokkolabs which is present in several countries in the region.

The shifting consumer landscape

Greater connectivity may also unlock the region’s immense e-commerce potential. While e-commerce market growth held steady at 9% annual growth from 2010 to 2017, the region’s dominant e-commerce companies have recently made huge strides forward, including Jumia, whose growth will be accelerated following the massive $570-million funding it raised in the past six months.

However, some challenges remain before the promise of e-commerce can be fully realised across the region. Data by the Boston Consulting Group found that between 30% and 40% of products ordered over the internet are returned because the recipient cannot be found.

The region’s underdeveloped retail sector could be a blessing in disguise, as there are fewer legacy aspects to change or overcome. In 2018, there were 136 physical retail stores per million people in Latin America, 568 per million in Europe, and 930 per million in the US. In Africa, there was only 15 formal retail stores per million people.

By the end of the decade, we may also see a transformation of the in-store shopping experience, as customer experience (CX) efforts mature and greater automation and choice become available. Self-service checkout counters, contactless mobile or biometric payments, and robotic workers assisting in-store staff with certain repetitive tasks may become common sights in the region’s retail environments.

Smart homes could become commonplace, connecting households to products and services through connected appliances and home automation systems. The falling price of sensors and prospect of 5G connectivity could see entirely new categories of smart devices emerge, including clothing, consumer goods and much more.

The next ten years will be some of the most exciting and most important times in our history. As organisations in West Africa continue to invest in digital technologies and build towards becoming intelligent enterprises, new opportunities will emerge that could transform how we live, work, learn and play. I for one am excited to see how the place I call home steps into our technology-enabled future.

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Sustainability in the modern context needs to consider an organisation’s economic, environmental and societal responsibilities, or the so-called ‘triple bottom line’. The pandemic has only served to emphasise the importance finding more sustainable alternatives to our current ways of work and life. In fact, scientists have warned that .

Our current industrial age follows a model of ‘take, make, waste’, where more than 91% of raw materials are not reusable and therefore wasted. To create a future that is cleaner, greener and more equal than the world we live in today, we need to – as our global CEO puts it – “chase zero”: zero emissions, zero waste, and zero inequality.

Positively, public awareness of and mass mobilisation behind sustainability has never been greater. A 2018 UN study found , and highlighted the crucial role of non-state actors – such as private sector companies – in reducing emissions and reaching climate targets.

Enablers and exemplars

Organisations have a leading role to play in creating and advancing sustainability. In fact, purpose-driven organisations with strong cultures of sustainability have the opportunity to act as both enablers or exemplars.

Enablers provide products and services that meet the sustainability challenges faced by their customers. For example, Climate 21 is a software package that allows SAP’s customers to measure and analyse the CO2 emissions directly associated with individual products they offer in the market.

The Ariba Network, the world’s largest business network that facilitates 5.3 million organisations to trade $3.75-trillion in goods and services each year, also provide greater transparency in enterprise supply chains. This enables organisations to make informed decisions over which of their suppliers prioritise sustainability and helps ensure it remains a key priority across the supplier base.

Not every organisation can be an enabler, but every organisation can strive to be an exemplar, an organisation that leads by example in their own business operations and practices. Being an exemplar is increasingly important in talent attraction and retention. In an internal survey of SAP’s global workforce, 94% of employees believed it is essential for 51ˇçÁ÷to pursue sustainability to create positive impact.

Although progress is sometimes slow, most countries have acknowledged the need to strive for carbon neutrality. The EU, for example, has set an ambitious target for . Here pioneering organisations have another opportunity to act as exemplars by achieving carbon neutrality targets. In fact, there is scope to take bolder steps: SAP, for example, has committed to become carbon neutral in its operations by 2023, two years ahead of its initial goal.

Environmental challenges require new solutions

The issue of plastic pollution has recently gained front-page prominence as the environmental impact of especially single-use plastics becomes clearer. According to the National Geographic, and only 10%-15% of single-use plastic is recycled annually. Microplastics have also been found in fresh water supplies around the world, with as-yet unknown consequences for our health.

New initiatives to combat plastic pollution are giving hope. A new project piloted in Ghana between the World Economic Forum, Global Plastic Action Partnership, and 51ˇçÁ÷has increased visibility within the plastics supply chain and stand to benefit people, companies and the environment.

The project, involving more than 2 000 Ghanaian waste pickers, aims to measure the quantities and types of plastic they collect, with data analysed and matched to market-related prices paid through the value chain locally and abroad.

Organisations committed to sustainability can then pay a premium for socially responsible plastics, while waste pickers gain opportunities to earn fairer wages. The data generated by the project can also guide policy-makers as they determine optimal locations for building recycling facilities.

Tremendous urgency in becoming more sustainable

The UN has called on countries, leaders and organisations around the world to do things differently, think differently, and act differently to bring us closer to a more sustainable future. In a recent call-to-action, the UN put forward three priority areas that will enable the world to recover and build more resilient, sustainable and inclusive societies, namely strong leadership, improved knowledge-sharing, and effective partnerships.

With , and with high levels of climate change vulnerability, Africa is particularly vulnerable to the consequences of unsustainable and environmentally unsound practices.

African enterprises that are in a position to be sustainability enablers should invest further in innovation and product development that can assist organisations, governments and citizens in their own sustainability efforts. All organisations have a duty, however, to act as exemplars and embody the spirit of sustainability across all their practices.

As international diplomat Christiana Figueres once said, “the next eight to ten years is going to determine the quality of life for the next 100 to 200 years”. African organisations have a duty to prioritise sustainability to ensure future generations inherit a clean and liveable world where every person has the opportunity to build a bright future for themselves, their families and their communities.

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