Can Nigeria’s Focus On Youth Drive Entrepreneurship Across Africa?

Later this Fall, world leaders will assemble in Johannesburg for the G20 World Leaders Summit. When the South African’s began planning the summit years ago, they had a vision to bring together world leaders to make a commitment to Africa – and support big ideas that will drive prosperity and international collaboration across the countries of Africa. The reality of this year’s summit is quite different. The abrupt shuttering of the US Agency for International Development has cancelled $12 billion in annual funding for projects and financing in Africa. Other donors are picking up the slack, including a $200 billion multi-year commitment from the Gates Foundation. But the rapid changes in geopolitics has some African leaders considering whether a new model is required.

One such leader is Prince Adewole Adebayo – a Nigerian lawyer and philanthropist who is running for President under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in 2027. He has spoken about the importance of youth empowerment as a model for Africa’s development. Other leaders have spoken about rare earth minerals, manufacturing and global ecotourism as big development opportunities that transition the Continent away from aid and foreign influence.

Overall, Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem has a long way to go. According to Max Cuvellier Giacomelli of the Africa: The Big Deal blog, Nigeria startups raised $4.6 billion since 2019, followed by Kenya’s startups, which raised $3.4 billion. Only two other nations in Africa really have startup ecosystems – South Africa and Egypt, which is often considered closer to the Middle East nations from an economic and cultural perspective.

Top African countries by startup-up funding

Max Cuvellier Giacomelli

But these numbers pale when compared to India, a similar emerging market, or the United States, the world leader. Startups in Bangalore, India alone raised over $12 billion just in 2024, while the US, Boston-area startups alone average nearly $3 billion per quarter. The United Arab Emirates, an emerging ecosystem, attracts many Africa-launched startups, and they raise about $1.5 billion annually. The Latin American region most closely resembles Africa, with about $3 billion in startup funding annually, with the added benefit of free trade agreements (for now) with the United States.

Instead of trying to compete head-on with Silicon Valley, there are leaders in Africa, such as Adebayo, who are calling for youth-focused development strategies. He says, “Nigeria is a country blessed with such a dynamic, young population. While we have the potential to uplift this demographic and become a true economic superpower, Nigeria has for too long lacked the required leadership to make this a reality.”

Nigeria has the largest population of youth in the world and a median age of 18.1 years. About 70% of the population is under 30, and 42% is under the age of 15. Yet there has been significant underinvestment in its young people, not least in education by multiple previous leaders across parties. The result is widespread poverty and unemployment (the World Bank says that over 56% of Nigerians live below the national poverty line). Today, 60% of surveyed Nigerian youth say they have considered emigrating to escape economic hardship, joining over 1 million Nigerian youth that have already left.

One area where Nigeria and other nations must focus is in their support for local entrepreneurs. Policies that support small and medium enterprises (SME), which generally have less than 500 employees, includes financing programs, access to capital and credit, workforce training and market linkages. As a nation without large multinational corporations or a lead in any emerging technologies, Nigeria (and all African nations) must ensure that their large population of young people have the skills to run their own businesses, while also ensuring that the government can directly, or indirectly, provide support to start and grow those businesses.

In the startup area, African universities must improve their research and development capabilities. Today, most African startups are competing in the IT space alongside Asia and America, making success very difficult. Through local R&D programs, Nigerian universities, for example, can create new technologies relevant to industries like oil & gas, shipping, logistics and agriculture that serve the large African market.

According to Prince Adebayo, “We must support our young academics and aspiring entrepreneurs and not hold them back. Let us give them the tools they need to build not only their own, but Nigeria’s long-term future. Only then can Nigeria become the country it has the potential to be.”

Peter Budin, the former BBC Africa Bureau Chief, has said that Nigeria’s young demographic holds the key to unlocking Nigeria’s true potential. He wants urgent, tangible solutions to ensure that Nigeria can get on the front foot to achieve a better future and deal with the discontent among Nigerian and African youth.

With international aid drying up, and tariffs potentially closing markets or opportunities, it is imperative that African nations pick a new strategy. Preparing millions of youth to build their own futures through skilling and education and then empowering them with the support of small business loans, technical skills and market linkages, can, over time, reduce the region’s dependence on foreign actors and funding.