The relationship that builds a continent

 By Nana Adjoa Hackman, founder, Drive to Inspire – Africa

Africa has the youngest population on earth. Whether that becomes an engine of prosperity, or a source of instability, depends on what we do next. Mentorship may be the most underutilised development tool we have.

Africa’s Human Capital Moment

Africa stands at a defining crossroads. With a median age of just 19 years, the youngest of any continent on earth, the continent holds a demographic advantage unlike anything the modern world has seen. By 2050, Africa’s youth population is projected to reach 850 million. By 2063, young people will constitute half of a two-billion-strong working-age population.

The opportunity is staggering. But so is the gap. Each year, between 10 and 12 million young Africans enter the labour market. The African Development Bank estimates that Africa’s economies create only three million formal jobs annually. That structural mismatch, compounded by weak career guidance systems and limited professional networks, is widening.

The challenge, however, is not a shortage of ambition or intelligence. It is the uneven transition from education to productive engagement. Many young Africans leave school without the guidance, networks, or exposure required to navigate increasingly complex labour markets. Without deliberate investment in career readiness and mentorship, the World Bank warns that Africa’s youth bulge risks becoming a liability rather than a dividend.

“The gap is not one of talent. It is one of guidance, and guidance is something we can provide.”
— Nana Adjoa Hackman, Founder, DTI-A

Understanding Mentorship Beyond Goodwill

Mentorship is too often viewed as an informal, voluntary act; a generous professional offering occasional wisdom to someone more junior. This framing understates its developmental power significantly.

From a human capital perspective, mentorship is a structured transfer mechanism — one that accelerates the conversion of education and talent into capability and productivity. Effective mentorship builds not only technical competence but decision-making ability, professional identity, resilience, ethical judgement, and access to opportunity. These are precisely the attributes that formal education systems, particularly in resource-constrained contexts, struggle to impart at scale.

When embedded intentionally, mentorship becomes a bridge between learning and work, between aspiration and achievement.

What Mentorship Actually Does

Mentorship contributes to human capital through a clear, measurable chain. Mentors provide exposure to career pathways and leadership realities that young people may never otherwise encounter. Through coaching and feedback, they strengthen both technical and soft skills. They expand professional networks, increasing access to internships, jobs, and role models. They reinforce self-belief and accountability. And they model the values and professionalism that define ethical, purposeful leadership.

These outcomes collectively improve employability, job quality, entrepreneurship readiness, and long-term productivity. They are not soft outcomes. They are economic ones. When a young professional is equipped to navigate a career transition, secure a position above entry-level, or build a resilient business, the returns accrue not only to that individual but to the economy they participate in.

For mentorship to deliver at scale, it must move beyond ad-hoc arrangements. Effective programmes share common principles: clear objectives and defined engagement periods; rigorous safeguarding and ethical standards; links to real-world experience through internships and projects; deliberate network expansion; and consistent measurement of outcomes so programmes can learn and improve.

“Mentorship is not a luxury intervention. It is a cost-effective, scalable investment in people.”

Mentorship in Action Across Africa

Across the continent, structured mentorship is increasingly being deployed to support youth employment, entrepreneurship, leadership development, and civic engagement. Organisations like Drive To Inspire – Africa (DTI-A) demonstrate what is possible when mentorship is treated as a rigorous, intentional system rather than a goodwill gesture.

Founded in Ghana in mid-2023, DTI-A has reached over 40,000 young people in less than three years. Its mentorship programme launched with 10 participants and today spans 22 countries across the world with 341 mentees

enrolled in its current cohort. Countries with participants on the mentorship programme include Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, Libya, Namibia, Ghana, Liberia and Uganda, creating a genuinely pan-African learning ecosystem. While all mentees on the programme are based in Africa, Mentors on the programme are mostly based in Africa, with a few mentors joining from countries outside Africa, namely, U.S.A. U.K and Finland.

The organisation’s scholarship programme has grown 135% in one year, from 17 to 40 beneficiaries, now supporting students across 11 higher education institutions in Ghana and its first international scholar in Uganda. Its webinar series reaches young people in 19 African countries. In 2025 alone, physical outreach covered six regions of Ghana, 17 institutions, and over 20,000 students.

What distinguishes DTI-A’s model is its integration: mentorship, career guidance, skills development, and financial support are delivered as a coherent system. This is not charity. It is structured human capital investment, and it is producing measurable results.

“Human capital is built person by person, relationship by relationship.”

A Responsibility to Act

If Africa is to realise its human capital potential, mentorship must be recognised as a core development tool not an optional add-on. Governments should integrate structured mentorship into national education, skills, and youth employment strategies. Private sector organisations should institutionalise mentoring within workforce development and leadership pipelines. Professional bodies and alumni networks should formalise mentorship as a civic obligation. Development partners should fund scalable, evidence-driven models with the same rigour they apply to infrastructure and health.

Africa’s greatest asset is not its minerals, its land, or its coastlines. It is its people. The question before every leader, every institution, and every professional reading this is simple: will you invest in them?

DTI-A AT A GLANCE founded mid-2023, Ghana

40,000+ young people reached since inception

22 Countries(Globally) in the mentorship programme

440 young Africans mentored since 2024

341 mentees enrolled — Cohort 1, 2026

40 scholarship beneficiaries across 11 universities

CONTRIBUTING TO UN SDGS

SDG 4: Quality Education

SDG 5: Gender Equality

SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

MENTEE COUNTRIES (2025/2026)

Ghana · Zambia · Kenya · Botswana · Zimbabwe · Liberia · Tanzania · Nigeria · South Africa · Uganda · Burundi · Ethiopia · Namibia · Rwanda · Togo

MENTOR COUNTRIES (2025/2026)

 Liberia . Botswana . Kenya . Nigeria . Uganda . Ethiopia . The Gambia . South Africa . Finland . Malawi . Libya . Namibia . Rwanda . United States . Zambia . United Kingdom

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