Manufacturing Alone Won’t Save Us – Prez. Mahama Urges Investment in Creative and Digital Sectors

By Praisebell Rosemond Larbi

President John Dramani Mahama has cautioned African leaders against relying solely on manufacturing and agriculture to resolve the continent’s mounting unemployment challenge. Instead, he called for urgent investment in the creative and digital sectors, which he described as the real engines of job creation for Africa’s growing youth population.

Delivering remarks at the Private-Public Business Dialogue during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IX) in Yokohama on Thursday, Mr. Mahama stressed that Africa’s future lies in embracing the opportunities of the knowledge economy.

“The youth form 60%. If you take the age category of between 16 and 35, they form 60% of Africa’s population. And so that’s not a demographic you can ignore. But aside from that, the world is changing, and it’s now a knowledge economy,” he noted.

According to him, young Africans are increasingly uninterested in traditional employment paths, preferring instead to explore opportunities in emerging industries. “The youth are interested in certain sectors that are not the traditional sectors. In the creatives, in renewable energy, or even agriculture, they are looking at agri-tech and other knowledge-driven aspects of these traditional sectors,” he explained.

President Mahama urged policymakers to align with these shifts by directing resources into sectors that match youth aspirations. “It is important to find where their interests are and invest in those areas so that you can attract the youth to go into them,” he advised.

He underscored the dynamism of Africa’s startup ecosystem, pointing to investment figures as evidence of structural change. “In 2024, there was about an investment of $4.2 billion in startups across Africa. A large share, about 45%, went into fintechs. The fintech space is growing at an astronomical rate and is mainly driven by smart, tech-savvy youth,” he said.

The former President highlighted Ghana’s experience as an example of the broader shift, noting that services overtook agriculture and manufacturing in 2015 to become the largest contributor to GDP. “That’s how it should be,” he added.

Mr. Mahama cited the work of a Ghanaian agri-tech fintech as a transformative model. By leveraging mobile technology to distribute inputs, provide credit, and track productivity, the platform had succeeded where government interventions had failed. “These young people created a system that gave farmers credit scores and enabled direct off-take of produce. It has completely changed the face of agriculture in our country,” he said.

He stressed that such innovations in fintech, creative industries, renewable energy, and youth-driven startups generate jobs far faster than traditional industries. “In these sectors, you add about four jobs before you can create one in agriculture or manufacturing. Investing there means we can absorb more of the myriad young people leaving school,” he explained.

Prez. Mahama warned that the employment capacity of agriculture and manufacturing is far below the continent’s urgent needs. “Africa must create between 12 and 15 million jobs each year. Manufacturing and agriculture alone cannot deliver that. The digital and creative spaces are where the real opportunity lies,” he declared.

Concluding his address, he cautioned leaders about the risks of inaction. “We know Africa’s youth bulge is an advantage. But if we fail to create enough jobs fast enough to absorb them, then it becomes a gunpowder keg — one that could destabilize the continent,” he warned.