With over 70% of Africa’s population under the age of 30, the President of Angola and current Chair of the African Union (AU) believes it is no exaggeration to say that the future of global innovation will also bear Africa’s imprint.
For João Lourenço, who spoke this Monday, the 23rd, in Luanda at the 17th edition of the U.S.-Africa Summit, this is not merely a projection regarding the participation of African youth in global innovation. The statesman stated that this participation “is already happening, in some ways.”
The host of the summit — the first to be held on Angolan soil — affirmed that the continent’s digital transformation “is underway and moving at high speed.”
“Startups and tech platforms are emerging daily, driven by a creative and resilient youth who see the digital space as a pathway to inclusion, entrepreneurship, and employability,” João Lourenço emphasized.
The acting Chair of the African Union said that African states are working to electrify and, consequently, industrialize the continent, adding value to their raw materials.
This dynamic, the president noted, aims to increase job opportunities in order to prevent the exodus of young Africans — the continent’s greatest asset — who make “the dangerous and humiliating” journey across the Mediterranean to Europe and other destinations in search of employment and better living conditions.
Source: E&M
