A breakaway session at the Women Creating Wealth (WCW) Summit Recentl highlighted the critical misalignment between education systems and labour market demands across Africa.
The summit is an initiative of the Graça Machel Trust, and the purpose of the session was to direct focused discussion at how to unlock greater employment opportunities for young people. Over 200 women entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, donors and thought leaders gathered to reflect on the current state of African entrepreneurship, assess progress, and chart a course for the future.
Naomy Lintini, Chief Technical Advisor at the International Labour Organization (ILO), emphasised the need to bridge the gap between education and employment. “A lot of the time, education is running by itself, and not considering what the market needs,” she stated, pointing to the resulting surplus of unemployed graduates as proof of this discrepancy.
The session revealed how different countries are tackling this challenge. Singapore was cited as a model where Education and Labour Departments collaborate effectively to align skills development with market needs. South Africa’s recent initiative to expand vocational training and provide certification for experienced but informally trained workers was also raised as demonstrating a practical approach to addressing the skills gap.
Lintini highlighted digital skills as a key opportunity, noting that “every industry has IT and digital issues, which makes for places where we can absorb young people.” However, she cautioned against overlooking infrastructure challenges, emphasising that many African populations still lack reliable access to internet and electricity.
“You can’t do IT where there is no IT infrastructure,” she noted. “We shouldn’t be deceived by the few who have access. We need to create that value chain and linkage.”
The issue of funding was raised by one participant, who outlined how challenging it is to support youth when there are no funds available to support skills programmes, or when funding is delayed. She added that many young people aren’t able to participate because they simply don’t have the funds for transport.
Ayanda Phumo, Director of Ayanda Phumo Consulting and member of the WCW Youth Advisory Group, described an ongoing initiative to collect data from the Graça Machel Trust to identify entrepreneurs’ skills needs, aiming to better understand job creation potential. She stressed that the ultimate goal of WCW was to create more jobs.
Key recommendations from the session included better alignment between education and labour market needs, and an increased focus on vocational training alongside higher education. “Countries tend to focus on higher education – but you can’t just run with that,” said Lintini. “You need all levels of education, and a variety of skills.”
Session moderator Mercy Gichangi, WCW Country Lead for Kenya, concluded with a crucial point about youth involvement: “We need to put youth at the centre – not just as beneficiaries, but to co-create solutions for their own futures.”
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