- Bill Gates emphasizes Africa's youthful population as a vital resource for future development.
- Investment in health and education is deemed crucial for harnessing the continent's potential.
- Key figures, including Aliko Dangote, discussed enhanced self-reliance in industries like cement and fertilizers.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates recently pointed out Africa's young demographic as a special resource that has the potential to improve the continent's future.
Bill Gates hints at how Africa is becoming the 'most interesting continent' this century [Mike Segar/REUTERS]
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When asked what he would do differently in the next 20 years concerning his efforts in Africa, given that over the last 25 years, the American billionaire was stated to have helped Africa achieve some 'great things', Bill Gates alluded to Africa’s young population.
“The amazing thing about Africa, and I show people this slide all the time, is that it is a very young continent. The portion of children born in Africa is going to be over half during this century.
The city (Lagos) we are in today will, by far, become the largest city in the world. That’ll be interesting and keep things vibrant,” he said at the Gate Foundation’s Goalkeepers event in Lagos.
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“Africa has this incredible offset of its youth, and that will make it the most interesting continent throughout this century.
How much that youth can drive progress will depend on the investment decisions we make in the next 20 years, in their health and their education.
If we prioritise that, there’s an unbelievable future here,” he added.
When asked what could speed up Africa’s health care development, the Gates Foundation CEO stated,
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“If you take the combination of Africa getting richer, more philanthropists emerging, rich countries restoring generosity, and the sharing of best practices and innovation.
We have some incredible tools coming along, even for things like sickle cell disease, which we need to get rid of. It’s a dramatic burden.”
Bill Gates and Nigeria's President Tinubu
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As reported by Channels, Bill Gates also lauded Nigeria's progress towards mitigating high mortality rates, expressing hope that the current five million child deaths worldwide might be cut in half.
“These next 20 years, the countries in Africa will reach a stage of real economic momentum.
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Helping them accelerate that, understanding unique challenges, simplifying delivery, and lowering costs, will make a world of difference.
The last 25 years went way better than I expected, childhood death rates, for example. We have a lot to be proud of, but even more to work on,” he added.
Aliko Dangote’s addition to what Bill Gates said
![Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Group, during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, US, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. [Getty Images]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'790'%20height%3D'527'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Group, during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, US, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. [Getty Images]")
Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Group, during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, US, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. [Getty Images]
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To buttress this point, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who was invited to speak, noted that “In health through our partnership with Bill, we’ve actually ended polio, and also we’ve done quite a lot in nutrition, but that in partnership,” he stated, responding to how Africa can utilize home made solutions and scale such ideas.
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“But in terms of business, we have done quite a lot by reversing a lot of things.
Nigeria used to be the second-largest importer of cement in the world, and now we’ve reversed it. Nigeria now exports cement more than any other African country.
“We’ve looked at also challenges in terms of fertilizers, where our farmers were suffering, no fertilizers… we built from the zero level to the second largest plant of fertilizers in the world.
So Nigeria, not only export, we actually export 37% of our fertilizers to the United States,” he added.
