Africa’s labor force will be larger than China’s by 2035, according to statistics recently released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. By the end of the century, 41 percent of the world’s youth live in African.
The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which invests in governance and leadership to catalyze Africa’s transformation, has also released some other, less optimistic numbers about the continent, including the fact that right now, in 15 African countries, more than 30 percent of the population is undernourished and almost half of the world’s out-of-school children live in sub-Saharan Africa. These figures illuminate the need for a focus on the strategic development of the continent.
The United States is committed to strengthening Africa’s social and economic prosperity. OPIC, the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, is advancing President Barack Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive on U.S. strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa by supporting investments that create sustainable growth and prosperity throughout the region.
OPIC helps U.S. businesses invest in the continent, creating jobs and fostering economic growth, which also helps advance U.S. foreign policy priorities. In the past two years OPIC has made significant efforts to expand its work in Africa and this resulted in a 300 percent increase in the agency’s commitments to the region last year.
As part of OPIC’s commitment to the President’s policy, OPIC Executive Vice President Mimi Alemayehou traveled to Dakar, Senegal, Africa on Nov. 11-12 to attend the Mo Ibrahim Youth Forum – an event focused on African youth. Alemayehou conducted meetings with youth organizations, as well as private sector business leaders, to push for improved governance in Africa and offer support for organizations working to train and support the African leaders of tomorrow.
Be sure to follow OPIC’s updates from the forum on Twitter and Facebook.
