"Africa is sitting at a very important time in its future" - Fred Swaniker

12:44 - 12 May 2016

This is a brief summary of Mr. Swaniker's comments at the Press Conference 'How can Africa rethink education and foster the next generation of industry and society leaders.

The World Economic Forum on Africa 2016 started yesterday, May 11 in Kigali, Rwanda. At the Press Conference on how Africa can rethink education, Mr. Fred Swaniker shed some interesting insights.

He said that the population of Africa is predicted to be the largest workforce in the world by the year 2050 with about a billion people needing jobs.

The problem however is that about 40 percent of African graduates are not employed. This is largely due to the fact that universities aren’t producing graduates with the skills that employers are look9ng fir.

The African Leadership University hopes to address this challenge by developing young people, providing them with skills that employers are looking for.

The students at the university spend eight months on campus, and the remaining four months in employment every year. Upon graduation after three years, they already have one year work experience.

Also, while in school, they work on projects for organizations, for example, some students worked with Uber, helping them figure out how and where next to expand to.