This archive report was first published on 20 December 2019.
Africa's Path to Prosperity: Leveraging Human Capital ¶
Dr. Richard Munang, a 41-year-old climate change expert, has dedicated his career to exploring Africa's strengths and leveraging them for climate action and wealth creation opportunities.
Dr. Munang, born in Cameroon, has authored a book titled 'Making Africa Work through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism,' which proposes a new approach to building an economy that thrives amid climate change.
According to Dr. Munang, the key to Africa's prosperity lies in its human capital. He notes that the continent has a population of over 1.2 billion people, with 60% being young people, and that thousands of African graduates join the labor market annually to compete for the few jobs available.
Dr. Munang argues that Africa has failed to leverage its human capital, focusing instead on material resources. He emphasizes that when you import food because you lack the skill-set to add value to the produce, you are essentially exporting jobs and importing unemployment.
He highlights that human capital is four times more valuable than material capital and 15 times more valuable than natural capital. Dr. Munang stresses that Africa needs to skill its people to improve its fortunes and that if $1 trillion were donated to Africa to build roads, without human capital to maintain these roads, this investment would not be sustainable.
Dr. Munang emphasizes that everyone has something to contribute, irrespective of their skill-set, and that every talent could be nurtured to solve a particular problem in the agro-value chain. He stresses that Africa must be able to refine and retool skills in its people so that they become better at what they are passionate about.
He also notes that Africa has not been competing from a position of strength and that to be competitive at the global stage, the continent must contest in the area of its competitive advantage, which is the agro-value chain.
Dr. Munang concludes that Africa needs an education revolution where skills are concentrated where they're required and that the continent must nurture its young people, who have brilliant ideas about changing the continent.
He emphasizes that the key to success lies in respecting people, working hard, and concentrating efforts in initiatives that touch people's lives. Dr. Munang also stresses the importance of humility and having an open mind.
