World Must Work Together To Ensure Africa's Young Can Seize Their Potential And Thrive, Says Bill Gates

PRETORIA, South Africa, 18 July 2016, -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Africa's future rests in the hands of its youth - and every effort must be made to ensure they thrive, philanthropist and entrepreneur Bill Gates said in South Africa today (EDITORS: SUNDAY, 17 July 2016).

Delivering the 2016 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the University of Pretoria (Mamelodi campus), Gates said he was optimistic about the future of the continent - because of its young people.

Pointing out that Africa was demographically the world's youngest continent - in the next 35 years, it is estimated that 2-billion babies will be born in Africa and by 2050, 40% of the world's children will live in Africa - Gates said he believed Africa's youth "can be the source of a special dynamism".