Adejumobi urges African professionals to choose ownership over employability

Adeyinka Adejumobi, a UK-based Nigerian AI and data expert, has called on African professionals to shift their focus from employability to ownership, urging them to become job creators rather than seekers.

In a statement, Adejumobi emphasized the need for Africans to take control of their careers and pursue entrepreneurial paths.

“From Lagos to London, Nairobi to Toronto, the question of capability has long been answered. The more urgent question now is ownership,” she said.

She stressed that African talent has long been framed as potential, a narrative she describes as limiting, as it ignores the measurable value the continent is already creating today.

She noted that Africans are already leading in finance, healthcare, engineering, education, and technology, managing global teams, developing products, and solving complex business problems in some of the world’s most competitive environments.

The AI expert explained that African talent is too often seen as labour rather than leverage, with professionals working within systems instead of creating and owning value within them, stressing that sustainable value in today’s economy belongs to those who own platforms, intellectual property, products, and solutions.

Adejumobi also pointed to the strengths African professionals have built through limited resources, and constant adaptation, describing resilience, commercial pragmatism, speed, creativity, and efficient problem-solving as competitive assets, not disadvantages.

She further noted the advantage of dual perspective, arguing that professionals who understand both local realities and international standards are best placed to identify market gaps others overlook.

“Expertise that is hidden is often outperformed by expertise that is organised, visible, and commercially positioned,” she warned, urging professionals to prioritise visibility, networks, capital access, and institution-building.

According to her, the change required is both economic and cultural, with African professionals needing to think beyond degrees and individual success toward creation and institutional impact.

She outlined practical steps including starting businesses, exporting specialist services, building technologies, and investing in problem-solving ventures.

She advocated for a builder’s mindset, noting that builders do not only ask where opportunities exist but how they can be created.

“More talented Africans build, more jobs are created, capital is mobilised, new ideas are born, and new role models emerge for the next generation,” she stated.

She added that African talent no longer needs to prove itself, and that Africa’s next world-class companies will emerge more quickly when talented people take initiative and build what demands global attention.