The African Miracle - A Jump to the Future!

Contributor & Curator Tadiwa, Styra Yacho

So, what does the future hold for us as youth especially as proud and visionary Africans in an imposing world??

1st?and foremost, I would like to quote Mr. Jeremy Rifkin, the successful Economist, EU Advisor and Author of the Third Industrial Revolution when he said that “What moves an economy and eventually leads to an economic revolution is Energy, Communication and Transport.” Looking at the fact that we are an energetic and young continent in an already existing interconnected & advanced society, the big question becomes, Which role are we as Africans going to play. And I assure you if we decide to finally speak and be the change that we want to see, this time around we won’t miss on the train.

I would like to argue that we might be able to hugely benefit from this new normal just like how prehistorically Britain and other powers did in the 1st?Industrial Revolution. Most of us might be concerned about what this beast I am about to unpack is all about and why we should care. Well trust me, we do need to - otherwise we will be the generation that failed the future of Africa by missing on a lifetime opportunity to leapfrog from poverty to a sustainable, digital and successful socio-economic world supported by the 3rd?Industrial Revolution and the IoT (Internet of Things).

The invention of the Internet, spread of automation through wide usage of electronics and computers, and discovery of new energy sources like nuclear energy boosted most nations’ economies because the trio brought a huge deal of new economic opportunities.

However, I am not going to talk more about that or at least not today but would like to take this opportunity to take us a few steps back and talk about how we are going to ready ourselves for the train to the greenland.

By?the year 2050, the African population is expected to double to about 2.5 billion and it is of paramount importance to note that about 60% of that population would be young, brilliant and ambitious individuals of around 18 – 35 years of age. Now with just this data, hold your breath for some few seconds and give yourself ample time to think about what this means for the future we want to build or at least we foresee.

This new normal we are living in maximizes on the interconnectivity of basically every part of our lives yet bringing in efficient ways of running businesses due to a large pool of collected data that will allow individuals, private entities and our governments to improve economic productivity by increasing our aggregate efficiency i.e., ratio of potential work to the actual useful work you get out of a conversion. This is now realistic as we can now input less energy into an economic chain and have high returns from it compared to a world economy based on the 2nd?Industrial Revolution infrastructure like use of fossil fuels as energy sources where humankind has only been able to get up to 20% on aggregate efficiency.?

We need therefore, to invest in our human capital through quality and relevant education without the exception of teaching ourselves 21st?Century Skills such as critical thinking, technology literacy and effective communication. It is only when we do this that we can achieve mindset transformation as we learn and teach each other to own up to our actions, see through our ideas and goals, to be a generation that will set aside intellectual and material resources for the benefit of the next tenants and habitats of this beautiful continent.?

We as African youths should now be busy learning on effective leadership skills like integrity, responsibility and accountability so that in our small efforts we then can start building the new infrastructure based on renewable energy sources, digital and sensor embedded road and transport systems which will support new modes of transport and eventually be able to connect our resources - with an advanced communication and Internet structure.?

Soon as we intentionally realise this, we will realise a massive economic opportunity for us as we change what employment means to us and as we harness the power of technological automation and the use of robotics in our industries. This is the near future, and my last school of thought is that if only we get out of our comfort zones and own up to this huge transformational responsibility as a continent can we begin working on solutions to most of our social issues through advanced economic activity.?