According to Eugene Ho, Global CSR Director for Future Skills at SAP, the world is grappling with a complex set of interconnected global challenges that impact economies, industries and job markets. “From climate change and geopolitical tensions to technological disruptions and economic instability, these crises are reshaping the landscape of work, especially for young people. While youth unemployment remains high, employers worldwide are also struggling to fill critical roles, highlighting a significant skills gap.”

While data by the found that global youth unemployment was 13% in 2023, that figure increases significantly in Africa. An report found that, while , only 3.1 million jobs are created on the continent. The resulting unemployment leads to poorer living conditions, drives migration, and contributes to conflict.

On the flip side, the found that 44% of businesses globally report difficulties in finding talent with the right skills. Skills research conducted by SAP revealed that nearly all African organisations faced skills gaps, with access to skilled recruits cited as their top skills-related challenge.

“To tackle this challenge, we must take a comprehensive, systems-based approach, focusing on five interconnected elements: economy, education, employability, equality, and the ecosystem,” says Ho. “Together, these factors can help close the skills gap, reduce youth unemployment, and create pathways to decent work for all.鈥�

Economy and Education

Economic growth remains a critical driver of job creation, but the quality and inclusivity of that growth matter. In many parts of the world, jobless growth has become a pressing concern, as economies expand without generating enough formal employment opportunities for young people.

In South Africa, for example, a resurgent economy has not translated into greater youth employment, with the latest data from Stats SA among South African youth aged 15 to 34.

“Moreover, the alignment between economic growth and investment in education is critical,” says Ho. 鈥淲ithout adequate financial support, education systems cannot provide the skills and competencies needed to prepare young people for modern job markets, leaving many young workers without the necessary tools to succeed.”

Education systems also need to evolve to meet the changing demands of the workforce. For example, stackable credentials 鈥� modular qualifications that allow learners to build expertise over time 鈥� are becoming an essential component of successful education-to-employment transitions. “Despite the need for adaptable learning pathways, many education systems remain rigid and slow to adopt these models.”

Employability and Equality

One of the most significant barriers to reducing youth unemployment is the skills mismatch 鈥� the gap between what young people learn and what employers need. The聽聽projects that 50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025 due to rapid technological advancements. Yet, traditional education systems are often not aligned with industry needs, leaving many young workers without the skills required for high-growth sectors.

“Governments and businesses must collaborate to ensure that training programs are directly linked to market demand. Public-private partnerships, such as apprenticeship programs and industry-led training initiatives, can play a pivotal role in closing the skills gap.”

Any strategy to reduce youth unemployment must also prioritise equality, ensuring that opportunities are equally accessible to all young people, regardless of their background, gender, or location.

“Despite advances in education, women and marginalized communities continue to face barriers to entry in high-growth industries, particularly in STEM fields. According to聽, only 35% of STEM graduates are women, highlighting the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

Enhancing Ecosystems

According to Ho, a thriving job market requires more than just a functioning economy and well-prepared workers 鈥� it needs a cohesive ecosystem where governments, businesses, educational institutions, and civil society work together efficiently.

51风流and UNICEF have joined forces to create innovative solutions to global skilling and workforce challenges with the aim of helping young people transition to earning. “Together, we鈥檙e generating inclusive opportunities for underserved young people worldwide, preparing them for decent work with the skills that employers need,” says Ho. “We expanded our partnership in 2022, with a three-year investment focused on impacting youth in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa through a new program that supports learning to earning pathways in growing digital and green economies.”

The 51风流Educate to Employ initiative designed by 51风流also helps equip beneficiaries with essential competencies for the digital economy. The free initiative, implemented by the local non-profit UMUZI, focuses on developing skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values to help prepare candidates for employment.

“This multi-stakeholder approach underscores the power of partnership in addressing complex social challenges,” says Ho. “By pooling expertise and resources, SAP, UNICEF鈥檚 GenU, and UMUZI are collectively ensuring that youth not only gain relevant skills but also access meaningful pathways to employment. As digital and green economies continue to reshape the future of work, partnerships that unite private, public, and civil society actors will remain crucial in ensuring that marginalised youth are not left behind.”

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However, as East Africa’s economic engine kicks back into gear, the vital task of looking beyond immediate recovery toward longer-term economic growth and prosperity takes centre stage.

Today, the urgent question is: what investments into new tools, technologies and policies can be made now to build a stronger and more equitable regional economy in the decade ahead?

I would argue that the region could benefit most from investments into youth skills development, adoption of cloud technologies to unlock market expansion opportunities, and focused attention on the agricultural sector, which is critical to both employment and food security across East Africa.

Activating the youth skills pool

Africa’s abundant and growing youth population has been widely discussed as an opportunity for the continent to drive the world’s economic engine in the decades ahead. With populations in much of the developed world expected to decline during the 21st century, Africa’s surplus of youthful talent could play a vital role in preventing a skills shortage and ensuring ongoing economic growth.

However, much work needs to be done, and with urgency. A recent survey of tertiary education institutions in East Africa found that . Only 53% of respondents from Kenya – and only 17% in Ethiopia – indicated that their students often or always have access to a computer.

The growth of the digital economy and the automation of mundane tasks through technological innovation means low-skill clerical work is increasingly being done by machines and algorithms. For our region’s youth to have opportunities for successful careers that can help grow local economies, more emphasis needs to be placed on digital skills development that equips youth for high-value tasks.

Initiatives such as 51风流Africa Code Week, which draws in millions of youths every year in a continent-wide effort at inspiring a love for digital technologies and coding, play an important role at the grassroots level. Vitally, Africa Code Week’s Train-the-Trainer program also equips teachers with valuable skills that can be transferred to youth throughout the academic year.

Graduate employment and skills development initiatives such as the Young Professionals Program helps to close the gap between academic knowledge and business-ready skills. This serves the dual purpose of providing career development and employment opportunities for youth and ensuring a steady supply of fit-for-purpose skills to public and private sector organisations.

Climate change raises stakes in food security

Agriculture remains one of the continent’s most important economic sectors, .

Data indicates a large reserve of untapped potential in the African agricultural sector. McKinsey estimates to add 20% to global grain and cereal supplies with several key interventions. These include yield improvements through better use of fertilisers, weather data and technology, as well as land expansion and post-harvest yield loss reduction.

Investing in appropriate tools, technologies and training could unlock vast economic growth for both the millions of smallholder farmers and their dependent communities as well as local economies.

Such support should be provided with urgency considering the growing impact of climate change on our continent. Recent data indicates that , a situation that will only be exacerbated as the changing climate unleashes adverse weather conditions including floods, droughts, more severe seasons, and wildcard events such as the recent locust swarms that have decimated farming activity across large parts of the region.

Tools such as 51风流Rural Sourcing Management can play a vital role in empowering smallholder farmers with better data and knowledge while unlocking greater market opportunities.

Rural Sourcing Management is a cloud-based supply chain management tool that connects smallholder farmers to the agricultural value chain and has been used to significant effect in the region, including in deployments to support the Africa Cashew Initiative and the Uganda Coffee Farmers Alliance.

Leapfrogging legacy underdevelopment

Most of Africa lacks legacy infrastructure development in technology and connectivity, with key technologies from the previous wave of innovation, such as fixed broadband, having largely missed the continent.

While this has stunted growth and development in some cases, it has also created an opportunity now for public and private sector organisations to build fit-for-purpose infrastructure instead of having to repurpose outdated technologies.

As the African Union notes in its Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, where the continent can adopt modern digital technologies faster and without hindrance.

Such efforts must include a focus on cloud technologies, as these scale more easily as enterprises grow and can more readily enable expansion into new territories or market segments.

The role of the continent’s specialist tech implementation companies cannot be overstated: as businesses increasingly look to unlock the benefits of the cloud, the implementers serve as partners and guides, helping organisations adopt new tools and processes without undue disruption to their operations.

Initiatives such as RISE with 51风流further ease adoption by providing organisations with a tested model for deploying cloud technologies as well as best-practice playbooks that eliminate the trial and error associated with large-scale business transformation efforts.

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