‘Congratulations to our six young students for Angola’s most recent agricultural engineers. I’m very proud to see your path, which I followed closely at the Royal Agricultural University in England. You are living proof of what it means to invest in our Angolan youth!’ Isabel Dos Santos
The youth unemployment rate in Angola hit a peak of 27.39% in 2008 and declined to its lowest level in over a decade in 2017 when it was recorded at 16.73%. Between 2011 and 2018 Angola’s youth unemployment has hovered between 16.73% and 17.16%. This startling statistic (Statista: Angola Youth Unemployment rate from 2008 to 2018) paints a worrying picture, given the many challenges faced by the country. These include inadequate education, skills training and development, poor infrastructure, telecommunications, access to capital, investment & opportunities, et al.
Angola’s total population is 29,310,273 people, of which 64.84% are urbanized. Unfortunately, Angola also ranks highest in terms of countries with the lowest life expectancy and the highest mortality rates. Even more worrying is that the bulk of Angola’s population ranges between 0-14 years of age (48.1 %), with people aged between 15-24 coming in a close second (18.25%). This means that the youth unemployment rate in 2018 of 17.06% translates into millions of unemployed young Angolans.
What types of problems are faced in Angola today?
Angola is a country peppered with problems. The legacy of a bitter past, Angola faces major infrastructure crises with broken bridges, widespread exploitation of natural resources, displaced populations, refugee camps, inadequate housing, freshwater, sanitation, et al. These issues have been highlighted in several important case studies over the years. The widespread urbanization of Angola’s population places tremendous pressure on the authorities to provide the requisite infrastructures and systems needed to develop economic growth prospects. Rapid population growth in urban centres like Kuito, Lubango, Huambo, Benguela, and Malange has stretched resources thin and crippled public institutions. While central government remains a major employer of people, it largely the informal and the formal sectors that are responsible for economic growth in the country.
Individual business leaders are best poised to offer the types of education, skills training, and development opportunities needed for young Angolans to succeed domestically. According to Devex, Angola has the fourth largest economy on the continent, but much of its revenues are derived from petroleum-based exports, making up an estimated 90% of all government revenues. That oil prices plummeted around 2014 has not helped. Consequently, Angola is heavily reliant on IMF funding and bailouts to maintain economic solvency and provide for the needs of its people. Unfortunately, much work remains to be done and donors are needed. Given that the country is working hard to diversify its economy away from crude oil, alternative energies and renewable resources are being tapped into to help drive growth prospects in the country. Government is constrained by its inability to meet the exigencies of rapid urbanization, a veritable population explosion and too many young people without the necessary skills, abilities, and educational qualifications to move the economy forward.
How the Private Sector Can Help with Youth Unemployment
Angola’s economy is a combination of parastatals and Chinese companies. China is particularly dominant with billions of dollars invested in infrastructure growth and development across the country. Opportunities abound in many industries, notably education, agriculture, renewable energy and manufacturing. Many companies are implementing social responsibility initiatives, sponsorship programs, and educational training and development opportunities to help fast-track the growth and development of Angola’s youth. Fostering a new-age ‘company culture’ is an integral component of economic growth. This progressive thinking among notable entrepreneurs like Isabel Dos Santos, chairperson of Unitel is already having knock-on effects across the country. For example, contributing to the health and well-being of local communities through sponsorships of paediatric hospitals, the provision of safe drinking water to rural communities, eliminating malaria and other diseases, the provision of countrywide Internet services, et al are sacrosanct.
Dos Santos and her partners are credited for many unique development initiatives such as fun days for underprivileged and infirm young people, fundraising initiatives on TV networks, and partnership with other small business enterprises to support local communities. Investment in the youth is about investment in the communities. To this end, Isabel Dos Santos and her team have prioritised the empowerment of women, the development of local business enterprise, the provision of scholarship opportunities to international colleges for cross-cultural learning, development, and understanding, and in-house promotional prospects for women to name but a few.
Quoting Isabel, ‘… If you do something that’s going to get somebody a job, then they’ll be able to pay for their kids school, and then the kid is going to be a doctor and then that doctor is going to probably help who knows how many other people, so it’s very motivating.’Investing in people and their communities is something that Dos Santos has been doing for many years. One of most successful investment initiatives was a project that began three years ago in Humpata, in Hulia. This Strawberry Plantation is now one of the most successful community-driven initiatives in the country with high quality produce that meets international standards, ‘… This is the best solution for Angola’s development: investing in national production that makes our land grow, supports our families and boosts our country’s economy… I know we are able to bring Angola to the world.’ Isabel Dos Santos
Much work remains to be done beyond investment in infrastructure, agricultural development, and nonrenewable energy sources. It is also incumbent upon business leaders to provide the necessary tools and resources, training and development, opportunities and capital to previously disempowered members of the workforce such as women. Angola, like many other emerging market economies suffers from the ill-effects of a male-dominated bias in the workforce. Gender empowerment has the potential to fast-track economic growth by bringing in 50% of the workforce. As more women enter the workforce, it is evident that there are outsized spillover effects. Already, women have assumed leadership roles at many companies across Angola including EFACEC, Unitel, ZAP and Candando. Much work remains to be done however. The current economic landscape in Angola is rife with opportunities provided the right leadership is available to steer the youth towards prosperity.