Every year, millions of Africans join the queue looking for jobs, salaries, and security, while comparatively few dream of building the businesses, industries, and enterprises that create them. Could one of Africa’s greatest development challenges be that too many of us aspire to be employed by prosperity rather than becoming the people who create it? There are questions that should make all of us uncomfortable.Why is it that across much of Africa, the dream of finding a job often appears more attractive than the dream of creating one?Why do thousands celebrate a vacancy announcement while comparatively few become excited about building enterprises capable of employing others?Why do parents proudly announce that their children have secured salaries, yet become noticeably anxious when those same children choose the uncertain path of entrepreneurship?More importantly, what does this reveal about us?Perhaps the answer lies at the heart of one of Africa’s most overlooked development challenges. What is wrong with us is not that we value employment. What is wrong with us is that we often value employment more than we value wealth creation itself. This distinction may appear subtle, but its consequences are profound. Across much of the continent, success is often measured by salary size rather than the number of livelihoods one helps create. We admire the recipient of a payroll but often pay less attention to the person who carries the burden of creating it.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): A society that produces more job seekers than job creators eventually discovers that vacancies cannot multiply as fast as people.The mathematics is unforgiving. Every year, according to the African Development Bank, between ten and twelve million young Africans enter the labour market. Yet only a fraction of that number find formal employment opportunities. The result is predictable. The queue grows longer, frustration deepens, and unemployment becomes one of the continent’s most persistent challenges.Yet perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this reality is that many continue to crowd around the same narrow doorway. We continue training millions to compete for already scarce opportunities while investing comparatively less energy in cultivating those who might create entirely new ones. Imagine an entire village standing patiently in a long queue waiting for bread while ignoring fertile land capable of producing wheat. At some point, the problem is no longer the shortage of bread. The problem becomes the shortage of people willing to become bakers.There is another dimension to this conversation that is seldom discussed openly. It begins not in government offices or university lecture halls but around dining tables, in family compounds, and in countless conversations that shape how young Africans define success. Many parents still celebrate the same aspirations that previous generations celebrated. Doctor. Lawyer. Banker. Accountant. Civil servant. Engineer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these professions. Every society requires them. The challenge emerges when entrepreneurship, manufacturing, agribusiness, industrialisation, innovation, and enterprise building are viewed as secondary options rather than equally important aspirations.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): Many societies celebrate the person who receives the fish while quietly overlooking the one building the fishing industry.The irony would be hilarious if its consequences were not so serious. Entire families sometimes gather to celebrate one newly secured salary while paying comparatively little attention to the individual creating twenty salaries.One receives a payroll.The other creates a payroll.Yet it is often the recipient who receives greater applause.Sometimes one cannot help but smile at the contradiction. If Henry Ford had been born into some communities, there is a possibility that concerned relatives might have advised him to stop building motor vehicles and instead pursue a safer office position with a guaranteed monthly income. The humour may provoke a laugh, but the lesson should provoke reflection. Graduation ceremonies often produce a familiar question.“Have you found a job yet?”Far less frequently does one hear questions such as:“What problem are you planning to solve?”“What business are you building?”“What opportunities can you create for others?”“What value can you bring into existence?”Our questions often reveal our mindset. Our mindset eventually shapes our destiny. Part of the challenge may also lie within educational systems originally designed during periods when economies required administrators, supervisors, clerks, and workers. Colonial economies largely required compliance. Modern economies increasingly require creativity, innovation, and enterprise. Yet many educational systems remain caught between those two realities. Students spend years mastering examinations and memorising information. Comparatively fewer hours are spent learning how to identify opportunities, manage risk, build enterprises, solve commercial problems, attract investment, or create sustainable value.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): Schools that teach people only how to find jobs may unintentionally create graduates competing for opportunities that do not exist.The statement may sound harsh, but labour market realities increasingly support it. Every year millions of graduates emerge with expectations shaped by economies incapable of absorbing them all. The result is not merely unemployment.It is disappointment.It is frustration.It is untapped potential.It is innovation that never leaves notebooks.It is ambition that never leaves conversation.Perhaps another uncomfortable truth is that many Africans have become deeply fearful of failure. Failure is often treated as a permanent stain rather than a temporary lesson. The entrepreneur who fails may become the subject of gossip. The employee who remains stagnant for decades often receives sympathy. Yet one attempted something difficult while the other may simply have accepted comfort.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): A society that fears failure more than stagnation eventually becomes comfortable with standing still.Silicon Valley celebrates intelligent failure because it understands that innovation frequently emerges from experimentation. Across much of Africa, however, failure is often remembered longer than courage. Consequently, many potentially transformative ideas never move beyond imagination. Many dreams never become enterprises. Many opportunities never become industries. History consistently demonstrates that prosperous societies are not built primarily by people looking for jobs. They are built by people creating opportunities, solving problems, producing goods, providing services, and generating employment. The United States did not become an economic powerhouse because everyone worked for somebody else. It became prosperous because generations of entrepreneurs built enterprises that employed millions.South Korea’s remarkable transformation was fuelled not merely by government policy but by businesses such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and countless other enterprises that created value and employment at scale. Germany’s economic strength continues to rest heavily on thousands of medium sized businesses that drive innovation and job creation. China’s economic rise has been powered by millions of enterprises transforming ideas into industries. The pattern remains remarkably consistent. Jobs are usually the consequence of wealth creation. They are rarely the starting point.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): Before there can be employees, somebody must first have the courage to become an employer.The statement appears obvious until one listens carefully to many conversations taking place across the continent. This does not mean everyone should become an entrepreneur. Such a proposition would be unrealistic and undesirable. Every society requires professionals, teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, and civil servants. The objective is balance. The challenge arises when millions pursue employment while too few pursue enterprise creation. The ecosystem becomes distorted. Demand for jobs rises faster than the supply of jobs. Eventually, unemployment becomes less an economic mystery and more a mathematical certainty. What then must change?The answer begins with redefining success itself. A person employing ten people should receive the same admiration as a person earning a prestigious salary. Entrepreneurship should become a respected aspiration rather than a fallback option. Educational systems should integrate enterprise development, innovation, industrialisation, and wealth creation into their core philosophy. Governments must equally create environments where businesses can survive and grow. Access to affordable financing, reliable infrastructure, predictable regulation, and larger markets remain essential. But perhaps the greatest change must occur in our collective mindset.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): Prosperity grows where production becomes more fashionable than consumption.Too often, we admire what is consumed more than what is created. We celebrate imported luxury vehicles while paying little attention to the factories capable of manufacturing them. We admire spending while overlooking production. We celebrate outcomes while neglecting origins. Yet every thriving economy rests upon generations of people who chose creation over comfort, production over dependency, and enterprise over passivity. Perhaps this brings us back to the original question. What is wrong with us? What is wrong with us is not that we seek employment. Employment is honourable.What is wrong with us is that too often we stop there.We teach our children how to find opportunities.We spend less time teaching them how to create opportunities.We celebrate salaries.We sometimes overlook payroll.We admire jobs.We pay insufficient attention to the people who create them.NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom): The payroll many celebrate today began as a dream somebody else was brave enough to pursue yesterday.Until that mindset changes, Africa may continue producing millions of job seekers while struggling to produce enough job creators.And perhaps that is the most unfortunate reality of all. A continent cannot sustainably employ its way to prosperity if it does not first create enough people willing to build prosperity itself.About Ing. Professor Douglas BoatengIng. Professor Douglas Boateng is a pioneering international industrial, manufacturing, and production systems engineer, governance strategist, and Pan-African thought leader whose work continues to shape boardroom thinking, supply chain transformation, and industrialisation across both the continent and globally. As Africa’s first appointed Professor Extraordinaire in Supply Chain Management, he has consistently championed the integration of procurement, value chain, industrialisation strategy, and governance into national and continental development agendas, aligning practice with purpose and long-term impact. An International Chartered Director and Chartered Engineer, he has received numerous lifetime achievement awards and authored several authoritative books. He is also the scribe of the globally acclaimed and widely followed daily NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom), which continues to inspire reflection, accountability, and purposeful living among audiences worldwide. His work is driven by a simple yet powerful belief: Africa’s transformation will not come from rhetoric but from deliberate action, strong institutions, and leaders willing to build for future generations.