World Bank: Affordable Electricity Key to Unlocking Africa’s Job Growth and Economic Transformation

The World Bank has emphasized that access to affordable and reliable electricity holds the key to unlocking Africa’s vast job creation potential, transforming its economies, and lifting millions out of poverty.

In a recent blog post titled “Switching on Opportunity: How Electricity Can Transform Jobs in Africa,” the bank highlighted that while energy advances have powered industrial revolutions and productivity worldwide for over 150 years, Africa’s progress remains slow with nearly 600 million people still lacking access to electricity.

Affordable and reliable electricity is critical for firms seeking to scale operations efficiently across the region,” the World Bank stated. “High energy costs weaken competitiveness, forcing many businesses to depend on manual processes instead of adopting modern, productivity-enhancing technologies.”

The institution warned that frequent blackouts and unstable power supply continue to hinder economic growth, estimating that such disruptions reduce employment rates by between 5 and 14 percentage points.

According to the World Bank, energy access is now one of the most powerful levers for economic transformation and job creation across sectors such as agribusiness, manufacturing, mining, construction, health care, and tourism all of which can achieve higher productivity through reliable electricity.

To fast-track progress, the bank announced it is committing $30 billion from its International Development Association over the next five years to support Mission 300 an initiative targeting electricity access for 300 million Africans by 2030. This investment represents about 20 percent of the World Bank’s total support for the region.

“This level of commitment is being matched by governments themselves,” the bank noted, “as they pursue reforms, set ambitious targets, and implement National Energy Compacts to transform their energy sectors.”

These national initiatives aim to expand infrastructure at lower costs, strengthen utilities, attract private sector participation, and foster regional power integration.

The World Bank also showcased success stories from across the continent. In Ethiopia, one electrification project has already connected over eight million people and 19,000 public institutions, including schools and clinics. Tanzania’s Rural Electrification Expansion Program has linked more than 16,000 rural businesses to the grid, boosting industries like food processing, fish farming, and construction.

In Senegal, the Energy Access and Scale-Up Project is working to electrify 600 health clinics, 200 schools, 700 small and medium-sized enterprises, and 200,000 households generating employment in installation, maintenance, and local supply chains. Similarly, Sierra Leone’s mini grid systems are showing that rural electrification can be commercially viable when directly tied to productive uses like milling, cold storage, and digital services.

These efforts demonstrate that expanding access to energy across Africa does more than light homes it powers industries, supports small businesses, and creates jobs at scale, the World Bank concluded, The bank reaffirmed that powering Africa’s industries, health facilities, and enterprises is essential for building a resilient, skilled workforce capable of driving sustainable economic growth across the continent.