4 Addressing Africa’s Priority Challenges: Key Areas and the Five Concrete Initiatives

No Commission – however representative and ambitious – can claim to be exhaustive or entirely original. The purpose of the Africa Commission has been to identify aspects of African development which may either have attracted inadequate attention over the last decade or have become more urgent in the current circumstances. The Commission has highlighted some of the major constraints Africa faces in realising its full potential and achieving the MDGs. This chapter outlines a number of concrete initiatives within five key areas that must be addressed if Africa is to increase employment and economic growth and reduce poverty. The five key areas are:

• Competitiveness. Improve Africa’s competitiveness in the global economy by increasing research-based knowledge and public awareness of the key constraints to competitiveness, including gender inequality.
• Investment finance. Provide access to investment finance for small and mediumsized enterprises to expand production and employment.
• Young entrepreneurs. Give young entrepreneurs opportunities to contribute to growth and job creation by helping them turn their innovative ideas into profitable businesses.
• Sustainable energy. Exploit the huge potential for renewable and climate-friendly energy in local communities by developing the markets that enable SMEs to invest effectively in production, distribution and efficient use of decentralised energy sources.
• Post-primary education and research. Improve the skills of young Africans by upgrading existing traditional apprenticeship schemes and developing demand-driven technical and vocational skills development in under-served communities. Link university education, research and private sector development in  sustainable agriculture to increase the business skills of graduates and promote innovation in agricultural value chains.

The Africa Commission will launch five concrete initiatives within these five key areas. The following section outlines the background and specific details for each initiative.