African youth are ready to lead digitalization agenda – Nompilo Morafo

Nompilo Morafo, MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, has expressed her confidence in the youth of Africa to lead the charge in technological advancement across the continent. She made this known as she joined a panel to discuss the topic “Critical Enablers for Single Market Success– Leveraging Infrastructure, Innovation and Technology” at the second day of the 2024 African Prosperity Dialogues being held in Accra, Ghana.

Ms. Morafo said, “I have so much faith in Africa. I strongly believe the African youth is more than ready to lead the charge to drive the digitization agenda across the continent. As Africans, we are very entrepreneurial in spirit. If you make connectivity available to young people, they will be able to use it to do innovative things. So, the issue is not about the readiness of the youth but about corporate bodies and governments making the resources available to them.”

She also touched on MTNs support to the youth in digital literacy. She said, “What we are doing as MTN to tackle this challenge and bridge the gap is the launch of the MTN Skills Academy in eight of the markets we operate in. We have certainly learned a lot of lessons from this. There are so many tools our devices provide but the majority of our youth are not literate and cannot fully exploit the devices within their hands. We must therefore work together as governments and as players in the private sector to push the digital literacy agenda. This way, our youth will move from simply being consumers to properly using the tools provided to manage businesses and their lifestyles as well.”

The 2024 Africa Prosperity Dialogue is a three-day event that has as its overarching focus the need to propose concrete measures in driving Africa’s progress. Themed “Delivering Prosperity in Africa: Produce. Add Value. Trade”, the three-day high-level dialogue brings together government and business leaders from across Africa and beyond to deliberate and exchange ideas on key issues and solutions in building and harnessing Africa’s growth.