Uncertainty is now growing among Africans. Since 2010, at least one million inhabitants
from sub-Saharan Africa have migrated to Europe, with the number of migrants to the United States having
also increased.
These trends are causing significant political concern in destination countries. However,
the efforts made in the face of one of the major factors of this exodus - the lack of job opportunities in
Africa - fail to produce significant results.
The African Development Bank ( AfDB ) believes that if stronger measures are not taken as soon as
today, 100 million young Africans will be out of work by 2030. To avoid such an outcome,
the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investments and Jobs, created last year by the European Union
European Union and African governments, works to provide the necessary resources for education and
training, strengthen the business environment and the private sector, and improve working conditions
of investment.
Similarly, over the next ten years, the Jobs for Youth in Africa initiative set up by the
AfDB aims to provide vocational skills to 50 million young people, and create 25 million
jobs. Most of these jobs will be in agriculture, a sector whose growth is 2 to 4 times
more effective than in other areas in terms of raising the level of income of the poorest populations.
poorest, according to the World Bank.
To harness this potential, AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina calls for evolving areas
rural areas "from the status of areas of economic misery to that of areas of economic prosperity", which
will require "new agricultural innovations" as well as a transformation of agriculture into a "sector
of wealth creation”. The African continent is also home to the youngest population on the planet -
60% of Africans being under the age of 35 - this transformation will require making agriculture "a
attractive choice for young people.
No less than 70% of young people in Africa already live in rural areas, and work in
agriculture, which is expected to be a multi-trillion dollar industry by 2030 . The
AfDB intends to take advantage of this reality to promote a generation of "agripreneurs", and has invested approximately
$1 billion towards this goal since 2016. Small businesses and growth-stage companies
account for only a fifth of jobs in emerging economies today, compared to
three-fifths in developed countries.
However, there is a major barrier in the way of agricultural development in Africa:
the expansion of any industry requires the availability of reliable uninterrupted electricity,
which most of rural Africa currently lacks - home to more than 600 million
of individuals. The good news is that there is a way to close this gap while creating multiple
millions of jobs, which will reduce so-called distress migration: fully and
accelerate the development of Africa's nascent distributed renewable energy industry.
According to a recent report by Power for All, an industry advocacy group, energy
distributed renewables in Africa – which include mini-grids and solar infrastructure for households
and businesses, or even irrigation for production purposes - already directly employ as many
workers than traditional energy companies. These jobs are mostly sustainable -
full-time and open-ended in two-thirds of cases - and mostly concern high-skilled, intermediate-paying positions. Young people between the ages of 18 and 25 make up about 40%
labor responsible for the electrification of rural areas.
The African distributed renewable energy industry is still very young. By 2022-2023, the number
employment in this sector should double in Kenya, and be multiplied by more than ten in Nigeria. According to one
recent projection, off-grid solar alone could create 1.3 million equivalent time jobs
full in East, West and Central Africa, as well as South Asia, by 2022. From previous
Estimates suggest that by 2030, the off-grid renewable energy value chain could
generate at least 4.5 million jobs for contractors, technicians, distributors and installers.
And these are only direct jobs. According to the Powering Jobs report, for every job created
directly by a private electricity distribution company to rural communities via energies
decentralized renewables, five "productive" jobs (based on the use of a product or service
distributed renewable energy) could be generated in electrified communities, including
jobs in machining, dairy product processing, or solar-powered refrigerated storage.
However, job creation is only a first step, since these jobs will have to be
occupied by skilled workers. However, as the Powering Jobs report also demonstrates, the deficit
of qualifications on the African continent - both in terms of general and specialist skills - does not
stop growing. Good technical skills, as well as in marketing, finance and
management are essential.
African governments and their donors and partners are already working by investing
in skills development and job creation. Given the implications associated with
employment, development and migration, it is more than necessary to direct a significant part of
this investment in the African distributed renewable energy sector.