An independent study performed by Dr. Marvellous Ngundu, for the Institute for Security Studies, recently confirmed our assertions. The report by Dr. forecasts the following outcomes from developing the manufacturing sector in Africa:

US$167.2 billion in manufacturing output, 34.6 million new jobs, a US$283.5 billion boost to overall economic output, US$83.2 billion in additional government revenues, a US$190 increase in per capita income and 20.1 million more people lifted out of poverty.

Welding is involved in between 50% and 80% of all manufacturing output. Unlike many other trades, becoming a proficient welder necessitates extensive hours of dedicated practice, often under the guidance of a trained instructor while wearing protective gear and viewing through tinted glass.

In addition to manufacturing, the construction boom in Africa will require an immense investment in welder training. A critical metric from the American Welding Society provides a framework for this analysis: welding typically accounts for between 5% and 20% of total work hours on construction projects.

The impact of this metric is profound. Applying even a conservative 5% of labor hours to the $114.7 billion Transport/Infrastructure sector suggests a demand equivalent to over $5.7 billion in welding-specific labor costs, a figure that dwarfs the continent’s current training capacity. For capital-intensive sectors like Energy/Power (with a reported value of 82.5B) and Transport/Infrastructure (114.7B), this percentage translates into millions of required work hours for certified welders, far exceeding current local capacity.

After decades of experience in various industrial sectors and conducting a gap analysis of the existing welding training programs across Africa, I am convinced that enhancing welding training to meet world-class industrial standards will yield a more significant positive impact than any other investment in human capital over the coming years. The economic development facilitated by this initiative could potentially uplift millions from poverty and hunger. As indicated by the study performed by Dr. Ngundu, manufacturing alone could lift 20.1 million people out of poverty.

To illustrate this point, I would like to reference Archimedes’ law of the lever. Born in 287 BC, Archimedes was a renowned mathematician and inventor from ancient Greece, credited with developing this fundamental principle, which was first depicted in Mechanics Magazine, published by Knight & Lacey in London, 1824.