Leading African business and philanthropic figures have launched two major coalitions to address the continent’s deepening learning crisis. The initiative, unveiled at a dinner in Abuja, brings together corporate and philanthropic heavyweights under one mission — to deliver urgent, African-led solutions to an education system on the brink of collapse.
Human Capital Africa (HCA), the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), the Aliko Dangote Foundation, and the African Philanthropy Forum jointly introduced the African CEOs’ Coalition for Foundational Learning and the Africa Philanthropy Coalition for Foundational Learning. While the first aims to use private-sector influence to strengthen early learning systems and workforce readiness, the second focuses on mobilising African philanthropic resources to finance and scale local education innovations.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, nine out of ten children cannot read and understand a simple text by age ten — one of the highest rates of learning poverty globally. With international education aid projected to fall by $3.2 billion between 2023 and 2026, leaders at the event called for stronger domestic collaboration to fill this gap and champion homegrown educational solutions.
‘Africa must lead its own turnaround,’ said Dr Oby Ezekwesili, CEO of Human Capital Africa. She emphasised that Africa’s private sector and philanthropies must move beyond dependency on foreign aid to drive reform. ‘We can no longer depend on others to solve this challenge for us. Africa must lead, by mobilising domestic resources and designing solutions for our contexts,’ she said.
Other speakers, including Niyi Yusuf of NESG and Zouera Youssofou of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, echoed the urgency of investing in early learning as the foundation for future productivity. They stressed that Africa’s young population — expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050 — must be equipped to drive economic growth, not hinder it.
The new coalitions complement the African Ministerial Coalition for Foundational Learning, which has already secured commitments from over 30 African nations to end learning poverty by 2035. By linking political leadership with corporate and philanthropic influence, the initiative aims to ensure that every African child learns — and learns well.
