A growing population of digital natives is Africa's silver bullet for the future

Across the world, young people are increasingly earning incomes through freelance work, remote employment and digital entrepreneurship. [Courtesy]

It is ironic that even when, for many decades, nations measured their wealth in terms of natural resources beneath their soil, Africa was still considered poor despite sitting on tonnes of lithium, gold, diamonds and oil. And while mineral wealth will continue to define the wealth of nations many years into the future, we need to reconcile ourselves to the reality that as Africa searches for its place in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we may be overlooking the most valuable resource ever discovered on this continent.

That resource, you will agree, is not in the form of fossil fuels, not even coltan and the rare earths used to make electric batteries and which are increasingly competing with gold and silver in terms of monetary value.

The ‘baddest’ resource Africa has is, ironically, in some quarters viewed as a challenge. This gold, disguised as a challenge, walks our streets, struts between lecture theatres and libraries at our universities, scrolls through smartphones in matatus in downtown Nairobi, rides in driverless cars in Manhattan and creates content on social media.

The reason the youth bulge of Africa still strikes some as a major challenge is that some of us may still be stuck in the era when, to eat, people had to till the land, sometimes using very crude tools, then wait for the rains to come and for the maize, beans or indigenous plant-based foodstuffs to grow.

In an era when artificial intelligence (AI) helps detect rain patterns well into the future, drones are used for irrigation, satellites monitor crop health from space, sensors measure soil moisture in real time and mobile applications connect farmers to weather forecasts, markets and agricultural extension services, this way of thinking sounds outdated.

True, Africa may lack the energy and resources required to produce the best AI and robotic products, but it has the nodes—in terms of its growing population of youths—to make these products and tools useful in the communities where they are needed most to solve local problems. For, what is the use of producing hi-tech solutions if you lack the agency to spread the magic of these tools to the real world? That is the kind of power Africa boasts. It can convert the youth bulge into one massive node for making world-class technologies work for the world with every click on a link on cellphone or creation of content.

To be sure, there are concerns everywhere about the amount of time these digital natives spend online. Governments in Africa are increasingly getting edgy over the ease of mobilisation and activism this online presence enables, sometimes leading to street demonstrations over issues canvassed by young people online. A good example is the demonstrations of the past few years in Kenya over the cost of fuel, Finance Bills and other State decisions. Among teachers, religious leaders and parents, the concern is often that these forays into the World Wide Web may expose children and young people to inappropriate content.

Indeed, across much of the world, headlines frequently portray social media as a distraction, smartphones as an addiction and digital culture as a threat to productivity. While these concerns are understandable, they may be causing us to miss a far greater opportunity. What if these perceived pitfalls could be made harmless by empowering and working with the youth to convert their online time into a force for good? They are already connected to the powerful global AI spectrum, and all we need to do to benefit more than anyone else in the world from these technologies is to harness the power of youthful digital natives to deepen the impact of AI in our daily lives. They could be the ones linking people with AI solutions created elsewhere in the world every time they are online.

Perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether we have been looking at this phenomenon from the wrong angle. What if the countless hours spent online represent not a societal problem, but an enormous reservoir of human energy waiting to be redirected towards national development?

History offers a useful lesson. When rainwater flowed unchecked across the landscape, it often caused floods, destruction and loss of life. Communities suffered because they lacked the infrastructure to direct and harness its power. Then humanity learned to build dams.

The water itself did not change. What changed was our ability to organise it. The same water that once caused devastation began powering agriculture, generating electricity, sustaining industries and transforming economies.

The lesson is profound. Unchannelled energy creates floods. Harnessed energy creates prosperity.

Africa's digital youth represent a similar force. What many leaders see as noise, disruption and a governance challenge is actually energy, potential and the greatest development opportunity of the twenty-first century.

For the first time in human history, a generation has emerged with unprecedented access to information, communication, creativity and computing power. A young person in Kisumu, Eldoret, Embu, Nakuru or Mombasa can now access more information through a smartphone than entire governments could access a generation ago.

Artificial intelligence tools can generate reports, analyse data, create designs, write software code, translate languages and solve complex problems in seconds. Powerful smartphones now rival the computing capabilities that once occupied entire university laboratories. Cloud computing has democratised access to advanced technology. High-speed internet continues to spread across the continent.

The implications of this transformation are far-reaching. Throughout history, societies have advanced when they learned to identify and effectively deploy the resources most abundant within their borders. While economic growth was once driven primarily by land, minerals and industrial machinery, knowledge, information and innovation are increasingly determining which nations prosper and which ones fall behind.

This is where Africa's youthful population acquires a significance that many policymakers may not yet fully appreciate.

Consider agriculture, which remains the backbone of many African economies. Millions of farmers still struggle to access timely information on weather patterns, market prices, crop diseases and modern farming techniques. At the same time, millions of digitally connected young people spend hours every day creating, sharing and consuming content online.

Rather than viewing these young people merely as consumers of technology, perhaps we should begin seeing them as potential distributors of knowledge. A university student in Embu, Eldoret or Kisii can, using little more than a smartphone and an internet connection, explain climate-smart agriculture in a local language, interpret weather forecasts for farmers, share information on drought-resistant crops or connect producers to markets. The same digital platforms often criticised for encouraging distraction can also become channels through which practical knowledge reaches communities that have traditionally been difficult to access.

Public health presents a similar picture. Governments continue to invest heavily in hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, yet many public health challenges persist because information does not always reach the people who need it most. Vaccination campaigns, maternal health programmes, nutrition education and disease prevention initiatives often struggle to penetrate the last mile. Yet this is precisely the terrain in which digital natives excel. Properly trained and supported, they could become powerful allies in helping bridge the gap between expert knowledge and community action.

Across the world, young people are increasingly earning incomes through freelance work, remote employment, digital entrepreneurship, software development, online consulting and content creation. Geography no longer confines opportunity in the way it once did. A software developer in Nairobi can work for a company in Singapore, a graphic designer in Meru can serve clients in London and a writer in Kisumu can contribute to publications across multiple continents.

Too often, discussions about Africa's youth focus almost exclusively on unemployment, social unrest and the pressures created by population growth. These concerns are legitimate, but they tell only part of the story. A youthful population can become a challenge if neglected, but it can also become a powerful advantage when combined with education, connectivity and innovation.

The smartphone-wielding young people are not merely consumers of digital technology. They are potential innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, researchers and problem-solvers. If properly empowered, they may prove to be the most valuable resource Africa has ever possessed and the surest foundation upon which the continent can build its future prosperity.

- The writer is a data scientist, AI researcher and technology entrepreneur based in Texas, USA. He has a passion for advancing Africa’s role in the global artificial intelligence revolution