Background

According to the United Nations, many of the poorest nations in the world are located in Africa, South and Central Asia with these regions suffering from inadequate infrastructure, lack of foreign investment, and political turmoil. However, at the same time these regions are deemed the fastest growing economies in l the world.

32% of the population in 33 of the least developed countries is made up of “youth population” (up to the age of 25) as defined by the United Nations. Africa alone has the youngest population in the world. In 2017, the continent was home to over 1.2 billion people, 60% of which were under the age of 25. The population of Africa is projected to double by 2050 to around 2.4 billion people. Developing countries’s growing youth population comes with high energy, creativity and talent, which are also the key to future prosperity.

Youth account for 60% of all African unemployed, according to the World Bank. In North Africa, the youth unemployment rate is an eyebrow-raising 30%. It is even worse in Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, South Africa and several other countries.

Most emerging countries are already addressing tomorrow’s these challenges through innovation in multiple sectors with a growing tech start-up scene on the African continent or in Palestine, a great potential for decentralized energies and mini-grids addressing energy challenges left unsolved by big energy corporates like electrification of rural areas or providing energy to poor population, innovative banking models (MPESA success story in Africa) and by being a more and more connected and closing the gap in terms of digital development by achieving universal internet connectivity.

However low-income countries along with these sectors of innovation are deemed vulnerable and prime targets for organized groups and nation-state cyber threat actors due to the lack of control around infrastructure and financial institutions. As we have seen in September in the FBI complaint report stating that several African banks have been hacked. Thus, it is imperative to equip local talents, and build a network and knowledge base to mitigate those threats.