TECHNOLOGY

Celebrating Africa’s digital potential on UN Youth Day

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong> <em>Ime Archibong&comma; Vice President&comma; Product Partnerships at Facebook&comma; in this piece&comma; says Africa’s young population could be its greatest asset in an age where many other regions in the world are aging as a result of declining birth rates<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Many&NewLine;things have been said about the future Africa and its potential&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It&NewLine;has been called the Opportunity Continent&comma; the Next Frontier and Africa rising&period;&NewLine;All &nbsp&semi;these are true&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">For&NewLine;me the excitement comes in how Africa can&comma; and will one day lead in the digital&NewLine;economy&comma; not only creating a better future for its young people&comma; but for people&NewLine;across the entire continents&comma; whether here in Africa or elsewhere in Europe and&NewLine;US&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;Africa’s young population could be its greatest asset in an age where many other&NewLine;regions in the world are aging as a result of declining birth rates&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">&nbsp&semi;As the world’s human population grows from 7&period;4&NewLine;billion people to 8&period;2 billion people between now and 2025&comma; 40&percnt; of that growth&NewLine;will come from Africa&comma; and with more than 628 million people aged below 24&comma;&NewLine;this young&comma; dynamic and innovative population will become one of the most&NewLine;powerful engines of growth the world has ever seen&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;Personally&comma; I’ve always been so inspired by the creativity and talent across my&NewLine;home continent &&num;8211&semi; whether it’s creating mobile phone apps which makes motorcycle&NewLine;taxis safer and more convenient&comma; like in the case of Safe Motos in Rwanda and&NewLine;now DRC&comma; or building technological solutions to solve agricultural challenges&comma;&NewLine;like Plantheus&comma; a recent graduate of Facebook’s &lpar;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">www&period;Facebook&period;com<&sol;a>&rpar;&NewLine;NG&lowbar;Hub Accelerator Program&comma; we see people&comma; especially youth&comma; building solutions&NewLine;daily to local problems and needs&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">As&NewLine;eager and early adopters of technology&comma; we’ll likely see the next wave of&NewLine;global digital innovations and apps coming from the continent and taken to the&NewLine;rest of the world&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;Adoption of social media&comma; mobile phones and mobile money are enabling Africa&NewLine;and its youth to leapfrog to the next wave of digital technology&period; This infrastructure&NewLine;is the foundation upon which so much innovation in Africa is built and will be&NewLine;built over the next five years&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">At&NewLine;Facebook&comma; we’re committed to empowering young people to build their digital&NewLine;skills and harness them for the future &&num;8211&semi; whether they are digital builders&comma;&NewLine;developers or product innovators&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;In the month of UN Youth Day&comma; I’m delighted that we will be recognizing just&NewLine;some of these talents from across the region&period; Bringing together over 40&NewLine;Facebook Community Leaders&comma; SMBs&comma; Entrepreneurs&comma; Developers and Content&NewLine;Creators from across Sub-Saharan Africa&comma; under the banner of &OpenCurlyQuote;Celebrating Icons&NewLine;of Change and the Future of the Continent’ &&num;8211&semi; celebrating the positive impact&NewLine;they are having in their community&comma; something which is important to us here at&NewLine;Facebook&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;Our commitment across the region remains strong&comma; and Africa continues to be&NewLine;important for us&comma; with this building on many partnerships&comma; programs and&NewLine;initiatives already in place to help develop digital and entrepreneurial skills&NewLine;among young people&period; Whether it’s training SMBs through digital boot camps&comma;&NewLine;helping interested youth to acquire digital marketing skills and placing them&NewLine;in employment&comma; training women in leveraging digital solutions to grow their&NewLine;business&comma; or bringing together 52&comma;000 Developers from across 17 countries&NewLine;through our&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;developers&period;facebook&period;com&sol;developercircles&sol;find&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">Developer Circles<&sol;a>&nbsp&semi;&lpar;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;bit&period;ly&sol;2MbZe3t" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">http&colon;&sol;&sol;bit&period;ly&sol;2MbZe3t<&sol;a>&rpar;&NewLine;program&comma; we are excited to play a part in supporting the next generation of&NewLine;start-up founders&comma; investors&comma; developers and change makers&period;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;As one of my favourite African proverbs says&nbsp&semi;<em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For tomorrow belongs to&NewLine;the people who prepare for it today”<&sol;em>&comma; and we look forward to that tomorrow&NewLine;in the years to come&period;<br>&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;<br>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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