Anita Nel, chief director for innovation and commercialisation at Stellenbosch University.
Africa stands at a crossroads, bursting with youthful energy yet burdened by unemployment and slow industrial growth.
This is according to Anita Nel, chief director for innovation and commercialisation at Stellenbosch University, adding that the solution lies in how education and innovation are approached across the continent.
Speaking at the Future of Work Dialogue, hosted by Tshwane University of Technology’s Institute for the Future of Work in Pretoria, Nel declared that the continent’s academic institutions must evolve beyond theory and research to become engines of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“We are on the continent where 50% of the people are younger than 20 years old. It has enormous implications for both education and employment, and it is something that we can solve when universities and industry start working together,” she said.
For Nel, this is not merely a recommendation; it’s a necessity. “The time is gone when we can just do research for the sake of research. Universities no longer have the privilege of being sponsored by churches and princes; they have to become business thinkers.”
From campus to commercialisation
Nel reiterated that innovation and entrepreneurship must become integral to university culture. Instead of wanting to be employees, she said, students should aspire to be employers. Africa’s universities, she argued, should be producing founders, innovators and problem-solvers, not just graduates waiting for jobs.
Universities no longer have the privilege of being sponsored by churches and princes; they have to become business thinkers.
Anita Nel, Stellenbosch University.
At Stellenbosch, this vision is already taking shape. The university’s LaunchLab incubator has become a springboard for student-led innovation.
“Before we had the incubator, it was really very difficult to commercialise university technology. Now, we have 43 companies in our group employing over 500 people. Last year, they had a combined turnover of more than R500 million.”
The LaunchLab, she said, was made possible through collaboration with industry.
A call to reimagine the future of learning
Nel’s appeal wasn’t just to academics or policymakers — it was to every young African in the room.
“Look around you,” she urged. “These colleagues, these other students, are going to have companies with you one day. They are going to be the policymakers. They are going to be the change-makers. So build your network and learn how to solve problems.”
We should think differently and reimagine the relationship between universities and industry.
Citing the example of Starbucks’ partnership with the University of Arizona, which allows thousands of baristas to study for degrees funded by their employer, Nel argued that South African institutions must also rethink how education aligns with employment.
“We should think differently and reimagine the relationship between universities and industry. With one entrepreneur at a time, we can really change the face of Africa.”
