How Africa’s women can drive the 4IR forward

African women.jpg

(Bailey Torres, Unsplash)

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Njideka Harry, CEO, Youth for Technology Foundation
In 2019, we are entering an exciting period of history when the world expects balance. We know that a more balanced, less biased world is a better one.
Over the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, in collaboration and open innovation. Companies are moving away from a model where their products and services are created through a closed, top-down, expert-led process and towards one that incorporates open, user-driven strategies. Nonprofits, philanthropists, foundations and community groups are tackling pressing problems in an increasingly complex and globalized world, and more are embracing co-creation as a solution.
Companies are born global because they are born digital. Today’s world demands that we get good at sustained collaboration, and that we do it quickly. When people think of globalization, they often picture factories moving their logistics, warehouses and production facilities to China, India or Mexico. But in reality globalization is a voluntary, mutually consenting exchange of goods and services between a buyer in one country and a seller in another.
The rise of digital platforms can create new opportunities for women or leave them further behind. The International Finance Corporation-led initiative Digital2Equal brings together 17 leading technology companies to boost opportunities for women in emerging markets.
Aishat, owner of Aeesha Collections in Lagos, and one of the entrepreneurs trained in the Women Entrepreneurs and Mobile Value Added Services program at the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), often expresses frustration with the difficulty of sourcing materials for her products locally. If a platform could connect vendors with credible suppliers, it could help women entrepreneurs in emerging markets access resources and capital, alleviating growing pains for their businesses. The benefits of broadening access to the internet are clear. Research suggests that up to $18 billion a year could be added to the GDP of 144 developing countries if 150 million people were given internet access. Women and girls are 50% less likely to have access to the internet and 14% less likely to have access to mobile phones. Reducing their barriers to entry will mean more people using online platforms – a win-win situation for both companies, and women entrepreneurs like Aishat, across emerging markets.
Globalization 4.0 is about balance. It will require that we communicate across cultures, sharing beliefs and approaches. It will require that we function in and understand highly centralized structures of power, as well as ever-changing societal movements and social norms. It will require we use skills that many women have: the ability to have a strong emotional quotient, to understand body language and other people’s perceptions. The ability to communicate well, to communicate across time zones and to work in ways that are less hierarchical. The ability to bring consensus, to mentor people – all these skills that we, as women, bring because of who we are.
The renowned science-fiction writer Arthur C Clarke once said: “There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.” The full power and potential of ideals and ideas can be realized only when many different forces – some of them countervailing – contribute to their development. In essence, this is what globalization 4.0 will require. It requires we work with new groups in different ways.
We can see this kind of inter-sector collaboration happening today. For instance, the World Bank Group partners with LinkedIn to provide information on skills likely to be in demand in the future. Fintech and blockchain enable companies to bank the unbanked faster than ever before. Mobile applications and drones provide eyes on the ground in conflict settings, allowing organizations to deliver life-saving treatment to remote areas. Computer-assisted instruction and digital platforms can be game-changers in the education sector, the first by enhancing the effectiveness of teachers and the second by expanding access to state-of-the-art knowledge. To function properly, these disruptive technologies typically require shared expertise, data and capital, and will therefore benefit from partnerships between the public and private sectors.
The demand for so-called hard skills that complement these technologies is also rising, but so too is the need for cognitive and socio-emotional skills that enable people to adapt to whatever the jobs of the future might require. These soft skills are more difficult to learn.
Africa has a particularly exciting future. Developed countries around the world face an impending skills shortage as their populations age faster than they grow. The OECD found that 40% of US firms currently face skills shortages. In Japan, that figure is 81%. Meanwhile, the population of Africa will grow from 370 million in 2010 to 600 million in 2030. Provided they have the right mix of soft skills and hard STEM skills, African workers could very well become the driving force of global organizations.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report notes that technology has the potential to create 58 million new jobs by 2022, but that 54% of employees will require reskilling in order to harness the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Another Forum report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution, tells us that while 1.4 million jobs in the US alone are expected to be disrupted by technology and other factors between now and 2026, 95% of the most at-risk workers could find good-quality, higher-wage work in growing fields given adequate reskilling. How then do we reskill young people to manage these shifts when most of the jobs once done by human beings are being performed by machines?
The human capital index shows that countries all over the world are going through a human capital crisis, because while they know that the nature of work will change, they don’t know how many current jobs will be lost. Many are not providing their young people with the kind of education they’ll need to thrive in the new environment. Our work at Youth for Technology Foundation has shown that we must teach women and youth how to learn and adapt in the changing economy. Efforts like 3D Africa help them grow comfortable with a human capital-centered approach to globalization, upskilling them for jobs that don’t yet exist. We are enabling a shared stakeholder approach between the private sector, academia and youth.
Skills like empathy are going to become differentiators as artificial intelligence and machine learning take over other tasks. These soft skills have generally been viewed as less important than hard ones, but in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, they will be more valuable. We are far from the day when machines can genuinely empathize. To quote Teddy Roosevelt: “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” By 2030, as many as 47% of jobs will be automated. That could pose an especial risk for girls and women, who have not always had equal access to studying STEM and have had to deal with cultural biases that push them away from pursuing such skills in their educations and careers. If we are not proactive, the era of automation could leave them even further behind. However, it is important to realize that as old jobs disappear, new jobs requiring little or no STEM background will also be created. These positions will be filled by people who have the soft skills needed to train machines to appear somewhat more human.
As we enter this new era, we cannot afford to rely on any one group of organizations or coalition of interests to make the right decisions and bring about the right outcomes. We have to be both pragmatic and radical, working with what is there as well as supporting, encouraging and reinforcing new modes of organizing that will grow in importance as Globalization 4.0 gets underway and we begin to witness balance and parity for a better world.

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Interesting reads

© Unsplash/Angus Gray Ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by over 90 per cent since the crisis escalated in late February 2026.

Stranded Hormuz seafarers begin mass evacuation operation

This article is published in association with United Nations. As the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) released more details of its plan to evacuate more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, one mariner caught up in the emergency has described the ever-present fear of coming under attack. “You don’t know when the war […]
© Unsplash/Angus Gray Ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by over 90 per cent since the crisis escalated in late February 2026.

World News in Brief: UN launches Hormuz evacuation plan, UNICEF youth champion killed in Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire ‘largely holding’

This article is published in association with United Nations. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will begin implementing an evacuation plan for more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, the UN agency announced on Tuesday. The development follows months of hardship and distress for thousands of innocent seafarers and comes on the heels of […]
© Unsplash/Michu Đăng Quang The emissions from electricity or gasoline that power air conditioners contribute to global warming. "It's time to come clean" and do more to promote renewable energy, the UN Secretary-General told the London Climate Action Week.

Climate crisis: UN chief lays out solutions blueprint for clean energy transition

This article is published in association with United Nations. As a deadly heatwave continued to grip Europe on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued an impassioned appeal for more ambitious global action on climate change caused by fossil fuels, to prevent irreversible damage. In a major keynote speech at London Climate Action Week, the UN chief […]

Libya’s political process regains momentum, but window for action is narrowing, UN envoy warns

This article is published in association with United Nations. Libya has been mired in political dysfunction since the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, which shattered State institutions and triggered recurring struggles over legitimacy and power.  The country’s current stalemate pits the UN-recognised Government of National Unity in the capital Tripoli against eastern-based authorities backed […]
© UNICEF Chad hosts refugees from conflicts in neighbouring Sudan, the Central African Republic and Cameroon.

World Refugee Day: UN calls for renewed commitment and solidarity

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on the international community to strengthen support for the nearly 42 million people worldwide who have fled their home countries to escape conflict, violence or persecution. Barham Salih highlighted the contributions refugees make to their host communities as workers, students, neighbours, […]
© WFP/Htet Oo Linn Families in Myanmar have been hit hard by rising prices, with the most vulnerable struggling to meet their daily needs.

US makes $1 billion contribution to UN child rights and food agencies

This article is published in association with United Nations. Two United Nations agencies have together welcomed more than $1 billion in assistance from the United States to support their operations targeting millions of children and hungry families in more than 40 countries. This week the US State Department announced a more than $800 million contribution to the […]
© UNICEF/Oleksii Filippov A bouquet of flowers and soft toys placed near the site of a missile strike, left in memory of the children killed in the early morning attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 24 April 2025.

‘Darkest chapter’: Record child violations in 2025, with national forces leading the way

This article is published in association with United Nations. For the first time, soldiers and Government forces were responsible for more grave violations against children in armed conflict than non-State armed groups – and 2025 set a grim new record for the total number of child victims.  The findings come in the annual UN report on Children and Armed […]
© UNICEF/Sukhum Preechapanich Children in Thailand are enduring extremely hot temperatures and drought. (file)

Triple climate threats affect nearly half the world’s children

This article is published in association with United Nations. Drought, extreme heat and heatwaves are the most prevalent trio of hazards endangering millions of children globally, warned a newly released climate report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). About 1.1 billion children now face at least three overlapping climate hazards, threatening their health, education and survival, […]
© UNOCHA Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Ukraine's most significant religious and cultural landmarks.

Ukraine: Latest Russian attack kills civilians, damages cultural landmark

This article is published in association with United Nations. eral civilians were killed and dozens more were injured in the latest wave of overnight attacks in Ukraine that targeted the capital Kyiv, the city of Kharkiv and the country’s history and cultural heritage, the United Nations said on Monday. The Russian strikes damaged homes, schools and […]
© NASA/GSFC/Jacques Descloitres The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow but vital shipping route linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the wider Arabian Sea. It lies between Iran to the north and Oman and UAE to the south.

Guterres welcomes US-Iran peace deal as ‘critical step’ toward ending conflict

This article is published in association with United Nations. UN Secretary General António Guterres welcomed on Sunday a new peace deal between the United States and Iran, calling it a “critical step” toward ending the conflict. According to a statement issued by his Spokesman, the agreement provides for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the reopening of […]

Three seafarers killed in Hormuz strike as UN warns of widening fallout

This article is published in association with United Nations. Three Indian seafarers were killed in an attack on an oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, as renewed hostilities in one of the world’s most critical shipping corridors once again heightened concern over food security, fuel prices and broken global supply chains. The latest […]
© UNICEF/Royena Rasnat A group of Rohingya refugee children attend an activity centre in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Refugee numbers drop for first time in a decade, but millions remain trapped

This article is published in association with United Nations. Global forced displacement has decreased for the first time in a decade, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Thursday, though the figure remains unacceptably high and tens of millions of people are still trapped in prolonged exile with little prospect of rebuilding their lives. UNHCR‘s flagship […]
This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

Miles for Water: The Daily Health Burden of Climate Change on Women

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Jasminy Musa Belotti Dessiyeh, a 19-year-old medical student at FACISB (Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde de Barretos), Brazil. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and […]
© UNICEF A child is vaccinated against multiple diseases at a health centre in Cuba.

Children are dying as US sanctions push Cuba to the brink, warns UN human rights chief

This article is published in association with United Nations. Children are dying because doctors cannot access essential medicines, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said in a stark warning on Monday, calling for the immediate lifting of United States sanctions against the Caribbean nation that were causing “widespread harm”. “The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of […]
© UNOCHA/Adedeji Ademigbuji Children displaced by the recent violence in Jonglei State, South Sudan, sit outside a church, home to thousands of displaced people.

World News in Brief: Millions displaced in South Sudan, global meat supply quadruples, Middle East crisis deepens global hunger

This article is published in association with United Nations. Months of fighting and insecurity have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in South Sudan’s eastern Jonglei State, triggering “one of the most severe conflict-related displacement emergencies in recent years”, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.  Tweet URL Fighting between the […]
© WFP/Marco Frattini Aid is distributed to displaced families in northern Lebanon.

Lebanon crisis: Needs soar as UN launches new funding appeal

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN in Lebanon appealed for an additional $331.5 million on Friday to help 1.4 million people in crisis as already massive needs continue to grow, three months since deadly violence erupted between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces. “Humanitarian needs are soaring with each day of the […]
© UNICEF/Amer Almohibany Destroyed buildings in Harasta, Ghouta. A suburb of Damascus, Ghouta was the site of a deadly chemical weapons attack in August 2013.

Undeclared chemical weapons found in Syria, including type used in notorious Ghouta massacre

This article is published in association with United Nations. Chemical weapons inspectors have uncovered a significant cache of previously undeclared chemical weapons in Syria – including rockets of the same type used in the notorious 2013 Ghouta attack – in what the UN’s top disarmament official called a “momentous discovery” for international security. Izumi Nakamitsu briefed […]
© UNICEF Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, during a visit to frontline areas in Ukraine.

Growing up with sirens: UN child rights envoy on the toll of the Ukraine-Russia war

This article is published in association with United Nations. Children in Ukraine have been profoundly impacted by years of war, sheltering in underground schools – or forced to study online – and living with the psychological strain of constant air raid sirens that could spell death for them and their families. But children on both sides […]
OCHA/Charlotte Cans The El Niño-induced drought in Ziway Dugda, Oromia region of Ethiopia, is affecting every family and they don't have enough food at home to feed themselves. (file photo).

El Niño confirmed, set to fuel more extreme weather, says WMO

This article is published in association with United Nations. The UN urged all countries on Tuesday to bolster early warning systems after confirming the onset of El Niño, warning that the Pacific Ocean-warming phenomenon will bring above-average temperatures “nearly everywhere” and fuel more extreme weather. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there is an 80 […]

Why don't you drop your comment here?

Go back up

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Discover more from The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

The European Sting – Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology – europeansting.com