{"id":1524,"date":"2016-04-13T12:21:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T11:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2016-10-26T15:58:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T14:58:31","slug":"agenda-2063-iii-investments-in-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2016\/04\/13\/agenda-2063-iii-investments-in-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Agenda 2063 (III): Investments in Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Rakesh Wahi<\/a><\/strong> in Lagos. Wahi is an Indian entrepreneur involved in early stage investments in emerging markets<\/strong>. He\u2019s invested in various geographies \u2013 including Sub-saharan Africa (SSA) \u2013 and in various industries \u2013 including education. To give you an idea of his profile, he\u2019s the founder of CNBC Africa and of Forbes Africa<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 to name just a couple of his ventures in over 20 countries. During his presentation, he mentioned that he plans to set up 10 universities across Africa: quite impressive!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Agenda
Graduation day at Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThere is huge variation across countries in terms of adult literacy (and \u201cnumeracy\u201d) rate <\/span><\/a>. The World Bank measures this<\/a> as the percentage of the population age 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement on their everyday life<\/strong>, and who have the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. Take it with caution: some SSA countries are missing<\/strong> (including Nigeria and Kenya, for instance), and depending on the country the data refer to 2011, 2012, or 2013. Good enough as an approximation \u2013 despite all of the problems with\u00a0official statistics about Africa.<\/p>\n

Adult literacy varies from as low as 15 % in Niger to as high as 95 % in Equatorial Guinea <\/span><\/a><\/strong>. To give you an idea of the various countries included in the World Bank database:<\/p>\n

\"Africa<\/p>\n

Add to this population growth. A report by the United Nations on World Population Prospects<\/a> forecasts that Africa will represent 25 % of the world population by 2050, and 39 % by 2100 up from 16 % in 2015 <\/span><\/a>. In contrast, Europe will be 7 % by 2050, and 5.7 % by 2100 down from 10 % in 2015.<\/p>\n

The need to invest in education in SSA becomes apparent<\/strong>. The creation of an African virtual and\u00a0e-University is one of the projects in Agenda 2063<\/strong>. A critical one in my opinion. With all of its drawbacks, virtual programs are a way to meet the urgent need to reach the crowds.<\/p>\n

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Related posts:<\/p>\n