Africa Future Farmers has trained more than 1,500 teenagers and university students from underserved communities, bringing them together in Lagos for the first edition of its development festival, a platform created to accelerate Nigeria’s human capital growth and strengthen the continent’s future workforce. The initiative focuses on giving young people practical competencies in critical thinking, innovation and responsible citizenship, skills that are essential for the digital economy yet still missing from many traditional learning systems.
The festival’s convener said the programme was designed to close the widening skills gap by helping young people understand how to solve everyday problems in their communities and transform those ideas into solutions that can scale across Nigeria and Africa. She noted that young Africans are no longer waiting for opportunities but are preparing to build the continent’s next wave of enterprises, innovations and governance systems. According to her, the goal is to equip them early so they can contribute to Africa’s economic competitiveness and take advantage of emerging opportunities in creative industries, technology and small-enterprise development.
The event featured professionals from leading sectors who delivered hands-on sessions in multimedia editing, visual storytelling, graphics and web design, and digital content creation. These sessions, which ran for several hours, were designed to help participants gain real-world experience that can position them for employment, freelance opportunities or entrepreneurship, particularly as digital skills continue to reshape Africa’s MSME landscape.
The convener explained that Nigeria’s shift to a revised education curriculum, which introduces digital literacy, coding and entrepreneurship, has exposed a shortage of trained teachers in many public schools. She said this gap informed the festival’s decision to bring in industry experts as volunteer facilitators so that young people in underserved communities do not miss out on critical knowledge required for the future of work.
She added that the festival marks the beginning of a year-long development journey during which participants will continue learning, receive mentorship and incubate ideas that could grow into ventures with economic and social impact.
Africa Future Farmers aims to build a steady pipeline of young innovators who can strengthen the continent’s economic base, support small businesses and contribute to shaping Africa’s governance and development trajectory.
