Like the rest of the world’s developing regions, Africa is faced with a youth bulge. Coined in the mid-1990s by German demographer Gunnar Heinsohn, the term refers to the phenomenon whereby success in reducing infant mortality while the fertility rate remains high results in a country’s or region’s population being predominantly youthful.

It is estimated that the continent will be home to 32% – that is just under one-third – of the world’s population under the age of 30 in 11 years. Ways have to be found to create jobs for these youngsters. Otherwise, the youth bulge will become a demographic bomb. This is where a large cohort of young people frustrated by not being able to earn a satisfactory income becomes a potential source of social and political instability. We saw what happened in North Africa during the so-called Arab Spring.

African governments should emulate their East Asian counterparts, which have succeeded in turning the increasing number of young people into a democratic dividend. As these countries’ economies have posted spectacular growth over the past few decades, they have been able to absorb more and more of their younger citizens into the job market. The upshot has been a decline in the dependence ratio – the proportion of the nonworking- age population to the working-age population. And, as economists tell us, a low dependence ratio enables households and nations to save part of their income, which can then be invested.

I doff my hat to information technology (IT) multinational Hewlett-Packard (HP), which is rolling out an Africa-wide initiative to train 100 000 young technology entrepreneurs over the next three years. This is indeed good news for our continent, where youth unemployment is three times as high as adult unemployment.

Being implemented through the HP Foundation’s Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs – or LIFE – programme, the initiative offers 30 free online courses focused on business and IT skills – from business planning to marketing and raising capital. These skills come in handy not only for those who are intent on starting or growing their own businesses, but also for those who wish to enhance their employment opportunities.

Speaking at the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100, staged in Johannesburg in December, HP chief sustainability and social impact officer Nate Hurst said: “Africa is experiencing rapid urbanisation and digitalisation, and it is essential that people have access to skills for the work of tomorrow.”

An HP LIFE centre is already operational in South Africa, having been opened in November. It was developed in collaboration with institutions like the Ekurhuleni West Technical, Vocational, Educational and Training College, on Gauteng’s East Rand.

Hurst described the new HP LIFE centre in Gauteng as a launchpad for innovation and opportunity across Africa, while HP Foundation executive director Debby McIsaac states on the programme’s website: “The HP LIFE centre is helping people in South Africa to unlock their potential and develop the skills they need for a successful future.”

The HP LIFE programme has to date reached 744 000 learners in 200 countries and territories. It has committed to enabling better learning outcomes for 100-million people by 2025. It champions education as a crucial component in success and technology, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Meanwhile, at the World Economic Forum’s forty-eighth yearly meeting, in January, the Youth for Technology Foundation and the HP Foundation announced a new three-dimensional (3D) printing course to be delivered through the HP LIFE platform. It is believed that 3D printing will fundamentally change the manufacturing industry, with $4-trillion to $6-trillion of the global economy to be disrupted in the next five to ten years, shifting economic value and jobs across the globe. The new course is helping individuals to learn to use 3D printing and create entrepreneurial opportunities.

Thank you, the HP Foundation, for playing your bit in ensuring that Africa’s youth bulge does not turn into a deadly bomb.