Rethinking Africa’s Growth Pathway: Women and Youth as Drivers of Innovation in a Modern African Economy

From the 3-5 June, 2015, Africa's corporate "gurus", senior bankers, renowned entrepreneurs and top government officials from the 53 African countries and beyond will converge once again in the beautiful city of Cape Town in South Africa. Under the platform of the World Economic Forum for Africa, they will dissect and discuss Africa's economic growth pathways, status and future prospects within the global economy.Following the theme "Then and Now: Reimagining Africa's Future", participants will evaluate Africa's economic progression over the past 25 years, discuss prevailing insights on the current development landscape and identify innovative ways of accelerating inclusive growth and foster a sustainable development agenda. This year marks the 25th forum in Africa and many questions have been raised about how this forum has shaped Africa's economy towards addressing the fundamental challenges such as poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, income inequality, unsustainable resource extraction rates among other things confronting African countries.

Barely two and half decades ago, Africa's contribution to global economy was rarely recognized, and all indications pointed to a continent destined to fail. However, the dawn of the new millennium heralded a new era of radical transformation of Africa's fortune. A continent that was deemed a "doomed continent" would turn the tables and become a beacon of hope for the global economy. Africa's growth showed incredible economic turnaround, with growth rate 2-3% faster than the global growth rate. Sustained by a stable growth rate of average slightly above 5%, Africa's economy was ranked as the second fastest growing economy after Asia from 2001-2010, with 6 countries among the rapidly growing economies. In 2009, the collective GDP of Africa was estimated at US$1.5 trillion, exceeding Russia's US$1.23 trillion and close to Brazil's GDP at US$1.6 trillion.

The story of Africa's impressive and stable economic growth is often told alongside three key disturbing development trends. First, the high dependence of Africa's economy on natural resource extraction linked to the global market has not been productivity-enhancing. The added value on many African commodities has been minimal and commodities are often exposed to price fluctuation and global economic instability. Yet, Africa's economic transformation continues to mainly dwell on capitalizing on its natural resource based economy rooted in trade to boost economic growth, rather than boosting economic productivity through service sector transformation.

Second, the rising economic growth enjoyed by many countries in Africa has not translated into adequate job creation for the youth, with unemployment rate at 6% per annum. The continuous neglect and lack of job provisions for the teaming African youth breed widespread frustration and social discontent which can potentially undermine peace and political stability. Without urgent action to transform Africa's economies to create a favourable job environment for young people to flourish, African countries risk wasting the tremendous potential for growth offered by their youth.

Thirdly, Africa's pattern of economic growth over the past three or four decades has not factored in the important role and contribution of women in the formal economic process. Much of African women's contribution to economic processes remains informal, constituting approximately 70% of the informal economy. Women's economic role and impact on economic patterns are often discounted or not fully recognized by national policies, statistics and even in legislation. The continuous under-representation of women in social, political and economic spheres weakens Africa's leverage to achieve its maximum potential of sustainable socio-economic development. In a nutshell, Africa's current pattern of growth is neither inclusive nor sustainable.

Game Changer

Moving forward, there is a need for a drastic transition from an unsustainable natural resource-based economy to a more service-driven economy. This transition has become imperative for the African society in the face of dwindling resources. It must be propelled by renewed strategies based on efficiency and productivity maximization. Such a transition will require a renewal of mindset towards a culture of innovation. This is not to say that current systems are not innovative. In fact, the latter part of this century has witnessed the emergence of multiple innovations, new technologies, new services and new products that are addressing social and economic objectives in Africa, and this has significantly contributed to Africa's new brand as a "Rising Star". However, these advancements made have not significantly shifted Africa's economy away from the conventional production processes.

There is a wide recognition of innovation as a major driver of economic growth and success in the global business environment today. The call for innovation has never been more intense considering the speed with which mankind is changing its conditions, demands and environment. Even technological advances made only 5 years ago seem obsolete. Driving the innovation process is the need to improve efficiency and effectiveness of existing systems or create new ones to drive down cost and improve productivity, reduce negative impact, create a highly competitive market and advance societies worldwide. The future of prosperous economies in Africa will rely profoundly on continent's capacity to innovate, embrace new ideas and put them into practice in order to meet pressing unmet needs and improve people's lives.

The modern African woman and youth Capacity to drive change

Africa's new generation of women and youth are credited with emerging innovations that have put a spotlight on the continent. Tapping into growing digital revolution on the continent, women and youth are developing strategies and solutions that are addressing everyday issues and improving socio-economic conditions of people at both local and national levels. Technological revolution in Africa is proving to be a game changer, stimulating the minds of the youth into creating innovations such as mobile application development, establishing business start-ups and many others that are addressing pertinent societal needs and filling the unemployment gap respectively. For example, in the agricultural sector, the backbone of most economies in Africa, the development of ICT-based agricultural tools and application is contributing to the improvement in the agro-business value chain.

Many countries are witnessing growing aspirations by the youth to propel Africa's growth through the establishment of technology hubs, development of mobile applications and market information systems that offer novel market tools to the agro-business value chain. The African youth is creating a new job avenue in the area of agricultural software development by applying mobile phone technology to smart urban farming.  This ingenuity is not only creating livelihoods for the youth but contributing to enhanced efficiency and productivity of Africa's economy.

The prominence of African women's impact on their societies - as leaders, entrepreneurs, producers, employers, and consumers has come to light. For instance, 4 African women namely, Presidents Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Nigerian Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian oil tycoon, fashion designer and philanthropist were named among the world's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2012 by Forbes magazine. In 2012, the same magazine enlisted 20 Youngest Impressive Women in Africa all under age 45, shaping the "Africa Rising" story.

African women are growing in confidence and status, taking up leadership roles on social, economic and political grounds. Such is the case that for the first time in Africa's history, a woman was elected to lead the African Union Commission (AUC). The rise of Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the top position of the AUC heralds a new era of opportunities for women in leadership roles to inspire change and a transition from high dependency on external aid, inequality and exclusion towards an economy that is characterised by inclusive growth, entrepreneurship, wealth creation and prosperity for all.

Concluding Remarks

As Africa converges in Cape Town in June this year to appraise 25 years of economic growth, a lot will be expected from the leaders and shapers of the African economy not only to reimagine Africa's future but to take concrete, strategic steps that will propel the growth of Africa's economy in ways that addresses the mitigating challenges raised in this article. This article is of the view that people at the forefront Africa's development must as a matter of urgency rethink the current pattern of growth, embracing the idea of innovation as fundamental to contemporary development pathway, and to pay serious attention to unique role and abilities of youth and women to transform Africa's economy into a more modern and sustainable economy. Maximising the innovative impact of African women and youth for sustainable socio-economic growth requires the formulation and implementation of intelligent policies and strategies that are based on a sound understanding of the issues that confront the youth and women in shaping their innovative ideas. The implementation of an innovation-driven development agenda to create a prosperous social and economic environment requires skilled, well-trained and committed people with fresh ideas as well as enabling government policies for innovation to thrive. Apart from government's commitment to providing enabling environment, a vigorous private sector driven by technology and innovation will be the most important source of opportunity for African women and the youth to prosper. The African woman and youth with their innovative minds in the contemporary African economy represent a powerful source of inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth.

Ernest Nti Acheampong is a Southern Voices Research Scholar and a Research Officer of the African Technology Policy Studies Network

Photo courtesy of Steve Evans via Flickr Commons