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Africa has no shortage of talent, but too much of it remains disconnected from opportunity.

George Badejo-Adegbenga, founder of Ethica Resolve CC, a business process outsourcing company, is working to change the narrative by building pathways that help African professionals compete, grow, and succeed in a rapidly changing world.

George, who is a lawyer by training and an entrepreneur by instinct, was inspired into the business by the gap in affordable talent, and what closing it could do for unemployment and poverty in Africa.

‘Many of our best youth are leaving. The ‘japa’ wave is a rational individual decision, and I don’t criticise anyone for that, but it is a haemorrhage the continent cannot afford.

‘If we can create work here that pays in foreign currency, meets global standards and offers a genuine career, we give people a real reason to build their lives at home. That is what motivates me,’ he said.

The serial entrepreneur and his team established Ethica Resolve CC in 2023 with approximately $100,000 from his personal savings, together with contributions from business associates.

According to George, since starting the business, it has grown at a slow but steady pace, with over 100 employees, though he would not trade the steadiness for speed.

‘The biggest obstacle has been persuading an international market that carries a general bias against Nigeria that this is a serious place to outsource critical business functions.

‘Buyers arrive with a fixed set of concerns about power, connectivity, security and reliability, and no argument shifts that. Only evidence does. Over three years of live delivery for UK and US clients, we have proven that the infrastructure challenges are manageable and quality is not merely acceptable but competitive,’ he noted.

He said the firm’s values make it different from others in the business space. ‘Values are the one thing a competitor cannot copy quickly, because they are demonstrated over years rather than declared in a brochure.

‘In our UK business, we work with people in financial distress, an industry with a poor historical record, and we built it on the principle that you can treat people fairly and still run a sound commercial operation,’ he explained.

In addition, he said the firm’s ability to earn substantially in foreign currency and spend substantially in Naira protects it from surging inflation.

George maintains that Nigeria offers great opportunity for his business. ‘We’ve the youngest large population on earth, a median age of around 18, an enormous cohort of English-speaking graduates, and a cultural affinity with the UK and US markets that’s difficult to manufacture elsewhere.

‘Remote work has been normalised globally. Our cost base, in dollars, is highly competitive. Every element required for Nigeria to become a major global services destination is present,’ he stressed.

According to the Ijebu Ode, Ogun State-born entrepreneur, the company’s headline plan is to build its first permanent BPO headquarters, with capacity for over 5,000 staff.

‘That is a commitment and a deliberate statement of intent, both to the market and to the youngsters we’re recruiting. A permanent facility of that scale says that this is an industry here to stay, not a series of temporary arrangements.

‘Alongside it, we are scaling Ethica Academy substantially. Through the iDICE BPO Training-to-Jobs Programme we are working across the six South-West states to train young people to an internationally employable standard and place them into work,’ he said.

Moreover, the firm intends to extend its model to other regions of Nigeria and to deepen its presence in Kenya and Ghana, and expand its clientele base in the UK and US.

Despite these audacious goals, the firm has hurdles to scale, such as perception, talent readiness, infrastructure, retention, and capital.

To mitigate the challenges, George said, ‘We stopped arguing and started proving; took on early engagements, delivered them properly, and let the references do the work.

‘We invested in the governance, data protection and information security standards that international buyers require, so that the due diligence conversation ends in confidence.’

He encourages young entrepreneurs to learn to solve a problem that actually exists, and build the thing competitors cannot copy quickly.

Egbe, nestled among the hills along the Ilorin-Lokoja road, holds a very special place in my heart.

I first saw those hills in September 1976, as a precocious ten-year-old newly admitted to Titcombe College. I was fighting back the dark forebodings of a child suddenly living far away from home, in a boarding house among strangers.

Titcombe College, founded by missionaries of Serving In Mission (SIM), later ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All), was then one of the few schools in what was Kwara State, now Kogi State, with access to excellent educational facilities. It also had something else that gave us comfort: the ECWA Hospital Egbe, located just across one of the school’s main gates.

The hospital, founded by SIM missionaries in 1952, was led by Dr. George Campion, its first medical director and surgeon, alongside missionary colleagues including Dr. Janet Troup, who contracted and survived Lassa fever, and Dr. Tracey, a dentist. For more than three decades, they worked under extraordinarily difficult conditions, treating tens of thousands of patients every year and performing hundreds of surgeries.

The hospital also established the ECWA Nursing School, training generations of nurses who went on to serve communities across Kogi State and beyond.

Their work was rooted in a simple but profound conviction: healthcare is a basic human right, regardless of where a person happens to be born.

A son continues his father’s mission

Dr. George Campion returned to Canada with his wife in 1986 and continued working until retiring at the remarkable age of 88. He died on December 30, 2021, at 97.

But the work he began in Egbe did not end with his departure.

His son, Don Campion, carried it forward.

Don is the founder and CEO of Banyan Air Service at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, a world-class fixed-base operator serving corporate and medical aviation. The name ‘Banyan’ itself is a tribute to his Nigerian childhood and the magnificent shade trees he remembers from Kogi.

About fifteen years ago, Don launched the Egbe Medical Mission. Working with his team, he invested heavily in rehabilitating the hospital, rebuilding deteriorating facilities, installing modern medical equipment and strengthening its power infrastructure.

The result is remarkable.

The hospital has grown from its original 75 beds to approximately 110 beds and serves communities within roughly a 100-mile radius-many of them villages and small towns where reaching another decent hospital can require a two- or three-hour journey over poor roads.

Today, ECWA Hospital Egbe is an oasis of modern healthcare in a profoundly underserved rural region. Its solar and battery infrastructure provides reliable 24-hour electricity across the hospital campus, a particularly striking achievement in an environment where dependable power remains a major challenge.

Returning to Egbe after nearly 50 years

I returned to Egbe in May 2025 for the burial of Mrs. Christina Adewunmi, wife of my former principal at Titcombe College, Dr. Job Adewunmi.

Mrs. Adewunmi had been something of a surrogate mother to that frightened ten-year-old boy of 1976. She often sent me to Egbe Hospital for the scrapes, bruises and other consequences of being a restless schoolboy.

After the burial, I returned to Titcombe College and drove through the hospital and nursing school.

I was struck by what I saw.

The hospital and nursing school had a renewed, almost shining appearance. New infrastructure stood alongside rehabilitated buildings and modern equipment. Yet just beyond their walls was a very different reality: neighborhoods and towns that, in many ways, looked remarkably similar to the ones I remembered from half a century ago.

The hospital and school seemed like an oasis surrounded by a sea of deteriorating buildings-a visible reminder of the economic stagnation and grinding poverty that continue to characterize many rural communities in Nigeria.

The question that stayed with me

Today, I serve as Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the African Development Bank in Abidjan.

As I travelled around Egbe, I kept asking myself a difficult question:

If Dr. George Campion and his son Don could bring the benefits of modern medicine to a remote rural community, what are we doing to strengthen the economic foundations that allow people in that community to thrive?

Healthcare can save lives. But people also need nutritious food, productive farms, decent jobs, functioning roads, reliable electricity and markets that allow them to earn a sustainable income.

In many rural parts of Nigeria, economic activity remains painfully limited. Poor road infrastructure, insecurity, uncompetitive agricultural value chains, dependence on imported food and manufactured goods, and inadequate rural infrastructure have contributed to generations of poverty.

The lack of truck traffic on the roads around Egbe tells part of the story. Where goods are not moving, economic opportunity is usually not moving either.

And where economic opportunity is absent, poverty becomes intergenerational.

This is why I increasingly see rural healthcare and rural economic development not as separate challenges, but as two sides of the same equation.

What can we learn from Egbe?

The story of Egbe offers a powerful lesson.

One family, inspired by a missionary father’s decades of service, chose not to simply remember the past. They invested in its future.

Don Campion could have regarded his father’s Nigerian years as a chapter of family history. Instead, he turned that legacy into action.

The result is a functioning rural hospital that continues to serve hundreds of thousands of people who might otherwise have very limited access to quality healthcare.

We need more of this spirit-not only in healthcare, but across rural development.

We need to ask how agriculture can create jobs, how rural businesses can grow, how roads can connect farmers to markets, how local processing can replace imported goods, and how investment can turn rural communities from places people leave into places where people can build prosperous lives.

Affordable, nutritious food-produced efficiently by modern agriculture or purchased with income from a stable job-is, after all, one of the most fundamental forms of medicine.

Dr. George Campion and his colleagues planted a seed in Egbe more than seven decades ago.

His son Don has continued to nurture it.

The lesson for all of us is simple:

We can borrow a leaf from the Campions.

We can choose to invest-not merely in the problems we see today, but in the institutions, infrastructure and economic opportunities that will change the trajectory of rural communities for generations to come.

One hospital at a time.

One farm at a time.

One community at a time.

Dr Martin Fregene, Director, Department of Agriculture and Agro-Industry, African Development Bank African Development Bank Group (AFDB).

Mota-Engil Nigeria has appointed Sara Pinheiro as its new head of treasury, bringing a commercial executive with more than a decade of experience in negotiations, business development and international markets into a role focused on cash, capital and financial risk.

Pinheiro’s appointment marks a shift from commercial leadership to a senior finance function as the Portuguese-owned engineering and construction company manages the financial demands of its operations and infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

In her new role, Pinheiro will oversee liquidity management, cash-flow planning, financial risk management, capital allocation and relationships with banks, according to the company.

Mota-Engil Nigeria has appointed Sara Pinheiro as its new head of treasury, bringing a commercial executive with more than a decade of experience in negotiations, business development and international markets into a role focused on cash, capital and financial risk.

Pinheiro’s appointment marks a shift from commercial leadership to a senior finance function as the Portuguese-owned engineering and construction company manages the financial demands of its operations and infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

In her new role, Pinheiro will oversee liquidity management, cash-flow planning, financial risk management, capital allocation and relationships with banks, according to the company.

She has spent much of her career in commercial leadership, business development and international markets, working on strategic relationships, business expansion and high-value negotiations.

The appointment also brings together her legal and commercial background with a deeper focus on the financial side of the business.

‘My commercial career taught me how to understand businesses from the market side. It taught me how to negotiate, manage relationships, deal with uncertainty and make decisions under pressure. Treasury gives me the opportunity to apply those skills while developing a deeper understanding of the financial side of the business,’ she said.

For Mota-Engil Nigeria, the appointment places an executive with commercial and relationship-management experience in a position responsible for managing the company’s financial flows and banking relationships.

Pinheiro grew up in Portugal, where Mota-Engil was a familiar name in engineering, construction and infrastructure. Her move into Treasury at the company represents a return to an organisation she had known since childhood, she said.

Pinheiro’s new mandate therefore extends beyond traditional treasury administration, linking the company’s commercial experience with decisions on liquidity, capital and financial relationships.

The role gives her responsibility for managing one of the less visible but critical parts of an infrastructure business: ensuring that cash is available when needed while financial risks remain under control.

Roads remain a key part of transport infrastructure across Africa, connecting cities, communities, markets and economic centres.

In many parts of the continent, rail networks do not cover enough areas to meet passenger and freight transport needs. This leaves roads as the main means of moving people, agricultural produce, manufactured goods and other commodities.

Road networks also affect access to healthcare, education and public services. For rural communities, a road connection can determine how easily people reach schools, hospitals, markets and employment opportunities.

Road infrastructure is also linked to trade. As African countries work to increase cross-border commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), road connections will remain important for moving goods between producers, markets and neighbouring countries.

According to Global Firepower data, a country’s total road coverage indicates the size of its road network and its capacity to support the movement of people, goods, and equipment.

Here are the 10 African countries with the highest total road coverage in 2026, based on the data.

1. South Africa – 750,000 km

South Africa ranks first in Africa, with a total road coverage of 750,000 km. The country also ranks 11th globally.

Its road network connects major cities, industrial centres, ports, mining areas and agricultural regions. Roads support the movement of goods across the country and provide connections to neighbouring countries.

2. Nigeria – 195,000 km

Nigeria has 195,000 km of total roadway coverage, placing it second in Africa and 28th globally.

The network links major commercial centres, states, ports and rural communities. With Nigeria’s population and large domestic market, road transport plays a major role in the movement of people and goods.

3. Ethiopia – 180,000 km

Ethiopia ranks third in Africa with 180,000 km of total road coverage and 30th globally.

Roads are important to the country’s agricultural economy, connecting production areas with markets and urban centres. They also provide links between Ethiopia and other parts of East Africa.

4. Kenya – 161,452 km

Kenya has 161,452 km of total road coverage, ranking fourth in Africa and 32nd globally.

The country’s roads connect Nairobi and other urban centres with agricultural regions, border areas and the port of Mombasa. The network also supports trade within East Africa.

5. Democratic Republic of the Congo – 152,373 km

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ranks fifth in Africa, with 152,373 km of total road coverage.

Given the country’s size, roads are important for connecting communities and supporting the movement of agricultural products, minerals and other goods.

6. Tanzania – 145,203 km

Tanzania ranks sixth, with 145,203 km of total road coverage and a global ranking of 36th.

Roads connect the country’s cities, farming communities, ports and border crossings. They also support Tanzania’s role in regional trade within East Africa.

7. Mali – 139,107 km

Mali has 139,107 km of total roadway coverage, placing it seventh in Africa and 38th globally.

Road connections are important for linking communities across the country’s large territory and for moving goods between domestic markets and neighbouring countries.

8. Algeria – 112,696 km

Algeria ranks eighth in Africa, with 112,696 km of total road coverage and 47th globally.

Its road network provides connections between northern cities, economic centres and areas across the country’s large landmass.

9. Zimbabwe – 97,267 km

Zimbabwe has 97,267 km of total roadway coverage, ranking ninth in Africa and 51st globally.

The country’s roads support movement between cities, farming areas, mining locations and border points, making them part of domestic and regional trade.

10. South Sudan – 90,200 km

South Sudan completes the list with 90,200 km of total road coverage, ranking 57th globally.

Roads are important for connecting communities and supporting the movement of goods and services across the country.

Switching from relaxed to natural hair is a whole journey, but making the shift doesn’t have to feel like a stressful science project.

Whether you’re ready for a drastic change today or want to ease into it slowly, here is how to make the transition as smooth and breakage-free as possible.

1. Pick Your Path: The ‘Big Chop’ vs. Transitioning

First, you need to decide how you want to handle the straight ends:

The Big Chop: Grab the shears and snip off all the relaxed ends in one sitting. It takes serious guts, but you instantly step into your natural texture with zero dynamic of managing two different hair types.

The Patient Transition: Stop applying chemical relaxers to your new growth and let your natural texture grow out over several months. You’ll trim the straight ends away bit by bit as your natural curls gain length.

2. Master the Art of Managing Two Textures

If you choose to transition gradually, your main challenge is keeping your hair healthy while it lives a ‘double life.’

Protect the ‘Demarcation Line’

The exact spot where your textured new growth meets your straight relaxed hair is extremely fragile. Treat this line like fragile glass-it will snap easily under pressure or rough handling.

Hydrate Like Your Hair Depends On It

Relaxed hair is porous, and new growth craves moisture. Treat your scalp and strands to a rich, deeply penetrating conditioning mask every single week to build elasticity and strength.

Only Detangle When Wet

Never run a comb through your hair while it’s dry. Detangle exclusively when your hair is soaked with water and saturated with conditioner. Start with your fingers to work out big knots, then follow up with a wide-tooth comb, starting from the ends and gently working your way up to the roots.

3. Keep Hands Off and Heat Away

Work with Low-Manipulation Styles

Trying to blend two drastically different textures every morning causes unnecessary stress on your strands. Lean heavily into low-manipulation and protective styles-think knotless braids, two-strand twists, faux locs, or wigs-to protect your ends while letting your roots grow uninterrupted.

Put Down the Hot Tools

It’s tempting to flat-iron your textured roots to match your straight ends, but heat damage will ruin your new pattern before it even has a chance. Put away the flat irons and high-heat blow dryers to let your natural hair flourish.

Trim on a Schedule

Every 6 to 8 weeks, clip off an inch or two of those straight, relaxed ends. Before you know it, you’ll reach a milestone where all the processed hair is gone, leaving you with a full head of healthy, thriving natural curls.

At the 8th Ajegunle Economic Summit, Business Fair and Exhibition organised by the Ajegunle Business School (ABS) in Lagos, grassroots entrepreneurs, lawmakers, and corporate leaders gathered to champion local innovation, capacity building, and enterprise development.

The annual event provides a dual platform to inspire emerging business owners through targeted education and showcase their products and services to wider markets.

Speaking at the summit, Alfred Konaughe, Convener of the event and Founder/CEO of Ajegunle Business School, outlined the institution’s mission to alter long-standing stereotypes about the community by investing directly in its human capital.

‘I grew up in Ajegunle, and we are trying to change the narrative,’ Konaughe said. ‘The word Ajegunle means ‘where wealth resides.’ Through knowledge, I realised that wealth is not in places-it is in people. ABS was established to train, equip, and bring out the wealth within them.’

Approaching its ninth anniversary this December, ABS operates as a non-profit organisation offering mostly tuition-free entrepreneurship and skill-acquisition programs sponsored through individual and corporate scholarships.

Directly and through collaborative ventures-such as its partnership with the Paradigm Initiative’s Life Legacy project-ABS has trained and expanded the capacity of over 900 entrepreneurs. Beyond technical instruction, the school actively connects its graduates to growth capital.

‘We don’t only train them; we facilitate access to funding,’ Konaughe explained. ‘Through our relationship with the Bank of Industry (BOI), our entrepreneurs access loans at a nine percent interest rate. From January to date, over 30 of our entrepreneurs have secured between N1 million and N5 million to scale their operations.’

Notable alumni highlights shared at the summit include ‘Magic Finger,’ a culinary entrepreneur who expanded from a single outlet to three kitchen centres following her training, and a fashion designer who successfully scaled her brand internationally to Kenya.

Looking ahead, Konaughe revealed plans to replicate the model across other peri-urban communities, with prospective launches targeted for Mowe, Ikorodu, and beyond.

Sabur Akanbi Oluwa, member representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, commended the ABS team for redirecting youth energy toward productive enterprise.

He highlighted the critical role small businesses play in community stability while calling for urgent interventions in basic infrastructure.

‘The amount of unengaged youth we have requires us to support anyone helping them build skills. This way, our youth become more productive,’ Hon. Oluwa noted, adding that persistent power challenges remain a barrier. ‘In developing economies, reliable electricity is essential for entrepreneurs. We must continue pushing for solutions to the epileptic power supply and heavy billing that burden small businesses.’

Delivering a keynote address, Yetunde Abisoye, Founder and CEO of Iconic Reality and Development Limited, urged graduating students and exhibitors to reject mediocrity, commit to continuous learning, and build indispensable skills.

Reflecting on her own upbringing in Ajegunle, Abisoye recounted selling her sewing machine to fund her university education-a decision that reshaped her career path.

‘One of the first challenges in any close-knit environment is the risk of settling for mediocrity,’ Abisoye stated. ‘You must fall in love with learning, adapt modern approaches to your craft, and realise that you deserve a seat at the table of greatness. When given access or mentorship, maximize it through excellence and skill.’

Beneficiaries at the exhibition also testified to the school’s transformative impact. Modupe Ayoko, CEO of Atobanti Creation, shared how ABS shifted her business mindset.

‘The training at Ajegunle Business School helped me rebuild my confidence and self-esteem,’ Ayoko said. ‘It brought out my creative potential, and today I manufacture and sell custom bags, shoes, and general leatherwork.’

African professionals, founders, and creators must move beyond raw talent and equip themselves with transferable, market-ready skills to unlock sustainable global opportunities and hedge against domestic economic pressures.

This assertion was made by Rukayat Alabi, Founder of RKY Group and Convener of Limitless Without Borders (LWB), during the LWB Lagos 2026 conference held at Queen’s Park Hall, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Hosting the conference in Lagos for the first time following four successful editions in London, Alabi stated that bringing the summit to Nigeria was a deliberate strategy to tackle career, business, and mobility challenges directly from their origin.

‘Limitless Without Borders was founded to create access to opportunities for professionals, founders, creators, and investors,’ Alabi said. ‘In London, we help immigrants navigate the job market and launch businesses. But we realised the need to solve these problems from the root by preparing talents with transferable skills that are relevant across borders before they even step out.’

Alabi emphasised that Africa’s youthful demographic positions the continent to become the primary engine of global talent in the coming years, but warned that talent alone will not guarantee international competitive advantage without strategic positioning.

‘Nigerians are exceptionally talented, but talent is not enough. Many simply lack access to the right information and positioning,’ she explained. ‘We are preparing our professionals and founders to build for global relevance-whether that means exporting services and earning in foreign currency from home to hedge against exchange rate volatility, or raising international capital to scale globally.’

Echoing Alabi’s call for strategic positioning, Scott Haughton, Co-Founder of UK-based digital investment network Envestors, provided insights into international mobility frameworks and pitch readiness.

Haughton revealed that while Nigerians represent over 90 percent of the 16 percent African applicants targeting the UK Innovator Founder Visa, approximately 60 percent face rejections due to avoidable structural gaps.

‘One of the biggest mistakes is not doing proper research on the UK market. Applicants must evidence that their business is innovative to the UK, defining existing competition, their unique selling proposition (USP), and why it isn’t easily copied,’ Haughton noted, adding that viable cash runways and proven operational track records are essential for securing endorsement.

Further reinforcing the theme of cross-border execution, Richard Chukwu, Founder of Voceti, stressed that global partners prioritise practical problem-solving over mere technical capability.

‘Technical skills are important, but business owners and global partners are looking for people who can solve real-world problems,’ Chukwu said. ‘Building a great product or creating a data dashboard isn’t enough; you must prove how that solution addresses a specific pain point.’

The LWB Lagos 2026 conference gathered participants, investors, and delegates from across Nigeria-including Abuja and Uyo-alongside international representatives from the UK, solidifying its mandate to empower African talent for global market access.