Former African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has urged African leaders to transform the continent’s natural resources, youthful population and expanding markets into productive industries capable of generating jobs and long-term prosperity.
Adesina made the call while delivering a keynote address at the Broad Pool of Ideas Foundation’s Iconic Leadership and Excellence Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa. He stressed that achieving sustainable economic progress would require visionary leadership, stronger continental integration and sustained investment in technology and industrial capacity.
According to him, Africa’s people represent its greatest asset, particularly its large youth population. However, he argued that this demographic advantage would only translate into economic strength if young people had access to quality education, relevant skills, technological resources and opportunities to establish businesses.
He urged governments, universities and vocational training institutions to prepare young Africans not only to use emerging technologies but also to develop them. Among the fields he highlighted were artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, cybersecurity and data science.
Adesina said building expertise in these areas could help African countries participate more actively in the global technology economy instead of remaining primarily consumers of innovations developed elsewhere.
He also called for stronger implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, describing the agreement as an opportunity to establish a broader industrial platform for the continent. By connecting national markets and facilitating trade, he argued, the arrangement could help African businesses expand their operations and achieve the scale required to compete internationally.
On industrial development, Adesina cited Nigeria’s $20 billion Dangote Refinery as an example of the scale of investment possible within Africa. He argued that the continent needed to progress beyond extracting and exporting raw materials towards processing, refining, manufacturing, research and innovation.
Such a shift, he maintained, would allow African economies to capture more value from their resources while creating opportunities for industrial employment and technological development.
Adesina also emphasised that investment and technological ambition must be supported by ethical leadership and strong institutions. He urged political and business leaders to assess their decisions against the public interest and the long-term benefits they would deliver to future generations.
His message placed industrialisation, human capital development and responsible leadership at the centre of Africa’s economic transformation. The challenge, as reflected in his address, is to translate the continent’s existing resources and population advantages into industries, skills and businesses that create lasting economic value.
