Chasing the Cheetahs

More than 40 percent of Africa’s people are under 15—and they’re getting ready to change the way the continent works.

Vijay Mahajan | September 2008 issue

Children running in the sandy courtyardof their school in Benin.

Photo: Anthony Asael

In the centre of Harare, Zimbabwe, a two-story retail shop is filled to the brim with the hopes of African parents for their children. Stacked neatly in storage cubicles that line the walls of Enbee Stores are the multicoloured uniforms of area schools. Parents come to this shop, or the 25 other Enbee outlets around the country, to purchase what’s often the best set of clothing their children will own.

In 1958, local entrepreneur Natu Patel got the idea to create a school uniform business. When he saw the children returning from school on the streets of Harare, Patel realized there must be a huge market for school uniforms—so he started manufacturing them. These days, the primary store in downtown Harare has two stories of pressed shirts, shorts, skirts and ties in all the colours of area schools. A complete wardrobe for a new student can run $500, and must be replaced every other year.

Even in a tight economic environment, parents have proved reluctant to cut back on their children’s educations. A school uniform is a matter of pride. For workers with good jobs, employers will often contribute to school fees and costs. In a country with high birth rates and parents who place a premium on educating their children, Enbee’s market is sure to grow.

And Enbee isn’t the only company to benefit from a youth market on a continent where the people are growing younger every day. With 41 percent of its population under the age of 15, Africa is one of the youngest markets in the world, according to the Population Reference Bureau’s 2007 World Population Data Sheet. That’s compared to 33 percent for India and 28 percent for Brazil. The developed world, in contrast, is aging rapidly. Just 20 percent of the North American population is under 15; those figures are 16 percent for Europe and 14 percent for Japan. Whereas much of the developed world is worried about a birth dearth, Africa’s population explosion is redefining the future of its consumer market. There, youth are a force that’s changing politics and driving economics.

These young Africans are different from their parents, and from peers in the West. Ghanaian economist George Ayittey has called them "the cheetah generation" because they move faster than "the hippo generation," the group that’s in power but mired in the past.

The hippos are still complaining about colonialism and imperialism, while the fast-moving cheetahs are demanding democracy, transparency and an end to corruption. Ayittey says the future of Africa rests "on the backs of these cheetahs." Here are some of their other signature characteristics:

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