Nairobi, April 9 -- By 2028, the Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026 report projects that the services sector will replace agriculture as the primary employer of young African women. This structural shift, according to the report, could see young women add nearly $172 billion (Sh22.1 trillion) to Africa's economy.

For this potential to be realised, the report stresses that a number of structural barriers, which have traditionally kept young women out of the formal job market, have to be dismantled.

One of these barriers is the exclusion of young women from higher education and training. As it stands, more than 61 per cent of young women cannot access platforms for professional development. While not always the case, the level of educat...