Education is crucial for Africa's development

3 Apr 2014

According to Charles Robertson, an economist and emerging markets specialist, the per capita incomes in Africa have doubled since the year 2000 and life expectancy has increased by one year every three years for the last decade. He predicts that household incomes and life expectancy will continue to increase sevenfold in the next few decades.

Education is crucial for Africa's development

"Life expectancy is very much linked to job creation and economic growth," says Jeremie Ferre, LRMG general manager: Africa Channel and Junior Partner. "When the economy grows, health care and hospitals improve and this impacts on all aspects of life in developing countries." Ferre says it is significant that Africa has the highest growth rate in the world for self-paced eLearning products and services and this positively impacts social and health sectors.

Social growth

"Since Africa became part of the global and online community we have seen considerable social growth helped along by NGOs starting up and offering services where there were previously none. There are many eLearning initiatives driven by NGOs across Africa that provide people access to information and education which allow greater awareness about how to live a healthy lifestyle," says Ferre.

Education is therefore one of the crucial elements for Africa's future boom. "Kenya is a good example of an African country that is experiencing strong economic and social growth despite the fact that they have no major natural resources like many other African countries," says Ferre. "Kenya is a country that reinvests in itself and which has a strong focus on developing its people through education."

Talent management

Developing people is something that talent management focus on and excel in. Whether it be to find and retain talent within an organisation or to educate and grow future and good leadership in Africa, talent management has a big role. "Our approach in Africa is geared to positively shaping individuals and organisations. We provide an environment were we can impact on peoples' lives by providing learning resources," says Ferre. "Our aim is to develop people so that organisations reach their greatest potential and beyond."

Growing and managing talent within corporations may therefore have a broader impact for Africa. Ferre explains that learning in a corporate environment creates continuous learning. "This kind of learning does not stop at acquiring knowledge in the workplace, it naturally expands into learning more about life and into creating new possibilities and opportunities. When corporations and individuals are continually learning and growing, both as organisations and as individuals, it results in healthy African countries," says Ferre.