SYPALA: We must stop treating youth employment as a side issue – Senyo Hosi

By: Godbless Asaana‎
Finance and economic policy analyst, entrepreneur and public policy advocate Senyo K. Hosi has called for greater attention to the impact of public policy on economic productivity, job creation and the future of Africa’s growing youth population.
‎
‎He spoke at the Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy (SYPALA) 2026 on August 27, where he led a discussion on “Beyond Politics: How Businesses and Public Policy Can Drive Africa’s Transformation.”
‎
‎SYPALA, which stands for the Students and Young Professionals African Liberty Academy, is an annual educational program run by the IMANI Center for Policy and Education.
‎
‎Senyo said the issue was not simply whether young people were working, but whether they were engaged in productive and secure employment that could contribute to rising incomes.
‎
‎“In other words, Africa’s challenge is not only on employment. It is informality. And by employment, low productivity. It is weak job quality. Too few firms can absorb young talent and skill.”
‎
‎He said Africa’s employment crisis was also a production problem, pointing to the limited number of firms producing at scale, industries creating value and businesses connected to capital markets.
‎
‎“We have too few firms producing at scale. Everybody is a billionaire. Everybody is an entrepreneur.”
‎
‎He further identified limited patient capital and barriers preventing small enterprises from becoming large employers as major constraints to job creation and economic transformation.
‎
‎Hosi said youth employment must no longer be treated as a secondary issue because of its implications for economic stability, social cohesion, democratic legitimacy and national security.
‎
‎“We must stop treating youth employment as a side issue. You must stop thinking of it as a normal issue. It is central and must be central to our macroeconomic stability, our social cohesion, our democratic legitimacy, and national security.”
‎
‎“A young continent cannot afford economies that grow without jobs,” he added.
‎
‎He also warned against economic policies that prioritise consumption over productivity and political access over enterprise and innovation.
‎
‎“We can’t afford budgets that favour consumption over productivity or policies that reward political access more than enterprise and innovation.”
‎
‎Hosi said the scale of the challenge required businesses to become a central part of the solution, arguing that productive enterprises serve an important public purpose by creating jobs, paying taxes, organising talent and solving problems for society.
‎
‎“At its best, business is a public good. Every productive enterprise solves a problem for society. It takes risks, organises talent, transforms inputs, serves customers, pays taxes, creates employment, and builds capabilities.”
‎
‎He therefore urged African businesses to raise their ambitions and move beyond simply surviving in difficult economic environments.
‎
‎“For transformation, firms must move from survival to scale. From trading to production, from infodependence to value addition, and from isolated markets to continental competitiveness.”
‎
‎However, he stressed that businesses could not achieve such transformation without an enabling policy environment.
‎
‎“Business cannot scale in a vacuum. It needs a policy environment that makes productivity possible.”
‎
‎
‎He said that in too many African countries, the operating system remained unstable because rules changed frequently, implementation was weak, regulation was slow, public spending was inefficient and institutions were vulnerable to political pressure.
‎
‎“The result is that even good ideas struggle to become good outcomes.”
‎