Africa has one key economic advantage over its global competitors – its youth.
The continent boasts the world’s youngest population: it has a median age of 19,5 – with 60% of its citizens under the age of 24 and 70% under the age of 30.
This youth dividend is somewhat offset by challenges including low per-capita wealth and infrastructure.
And, as the world becomes increasingly digital, skills development of this youth cohort is arguably the biggest challenge facing Africa.
Some studies indicate that, as soon as 2030, more young Africans will enter the workplace than the rest of the world combined.
John Omo, secretary-general of the African Telecommunications Union, points out that it’s critical this youth cohort is able to take its place in the digital economy.
But a lack of skills could prove a fatal roadblock to Africa’s ambitions with digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) deepening the digital divide as the rest of the world embraces new technologies to move even further ahead.
“Today, three out of five young Africans lack the skills required to participate in the digital economy – so our demographic strength could become a lost opportunity,” Omo says.
Although there are promising developments, Africa is behind the curve when it comes to digital infrastructure, with just 1% of the world’s AI capacity on the continent – and just four countries attracting most of the startup funding.
“It we do nothing, AI will deepen inequalities instead of narrowing the gap,” Omo says. “We need to find a way of nurturing talent without people having to leave the continent.”
The digital economy holds enormous promise: 40% of global employment is set to be affected by AI within the next five years and 80% will be impacted by 2035.
But today, Africa still contributes fewer than 1% of global AI professionals, while the pipeline is constrained by the fact that there are just four African universities in the global top 500 for computer science.
Studies confirm the importance of AI skills.
AI roles now dominate tech market growth, according to the second study released by the AI Workforce Consortium titled “ICT in Motion: The Next Wave of AI Integration”.
Led by Cisco, the consortium is a private sector collaboration that includes industry leaders Accenture, Cornerstone, Eightfold AI, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft and SAP.
Key findings from the 2025 report include:
- AI skills are pervasive for tech jobs: 78% of the job roles analysed include AI skills, highlighting a shift in role requirements across the G7.
- AI roles dominate technology job market growth: Seven of the 10 fastest-growing ICT roles are AI-related including AI/ML Engineer, AI Risk & Governance Specialist, and NLP Engineer.
- AI ethics and governance skills remain critical: Demand for skills in AI Governance is +150% and AI Ethics +125%, reflecting the need for expertise at the intersection of technology, law, and ethics.
- Critical technical skills deficit and rising importance of human skills: The skills deficit has reached critical levels in areas such as generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering, AI ethics, and AI security while human skills like communication, collaboration, and leadership are increasingly prioritised for responsible technology adoption.
- Surge in specialised AI skills: The AI landscape is quickly shifting from chatbots to agents, driving demand for specialised skills including AI security (+298%), foundation model adaptation (+267%), responsible AI (+256%) and multi-agent systems (+245%).