The World Bank Group under its work on poverty, has established a High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs that gathers a global cross-section of eminent individuals to offer thought leadership and actionable, scalable policy and program recommendations for the Bank to explore, test and scale.
The High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs was launched during the 2024 World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meeting, in October 2024 in Washington, DC, with the ethic that creating jobs is central to combating poverty, growing prosperity, and enhancing dignity.
Having a job is one of the most meaningful yardsticks of success for individuals everywhere since with a job comes self-sufficiency, sustainability, and the ability to provide for yourself and family, offering a sense of belonging in society. Despite this fact, job creation remains an elusive goal in many countries around the globe, most especially for younger generations and women.
The World Bank is sharpening its focus on job creation through the High-Level Advisory Council as it is estimated that over the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion people in the Global South will become working age adults. Yet there will only be approximately 420 million jobs available for these same young people – leaving nearly 800 million without a clear path to prosperity.
The Council will focus on youth and female employment opportunities in emerging and developing economies to help nations turn the challenge into an opportunity that powers the future.
“Because this issue is so fundamental to our collective future, the established High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs will be co-chaired by an international panel of experienced practitioners who have demonstrated job creation in their own countries. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of Singapore and Former Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, and Michelle Bachelet, Former President of Chile, and Head of Government for two terms will co-chair the council. The panel brings together the experience and knowledge of fourteen leading policymakers, business leaders, academics, and civil society pioneers,” noted Mr. Ajay Banga, President, World Bank Group.
“We would be immensely grateful to benefit from your deep expertise, experience and unique perspectives as a member of the Council,” said Therman, Michelle and Ajay in Dr. Mwangi’s appointment letter.
Dr. James Mwangi, the Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings is among the fourteen global leaders that have joined the World Bank Group High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs, recognizing his dedication and contributions to society that extend beyond the banking sector.
“Over the next decade the world is expected to experience significant demographic shift with one in four people on the planet being African, and more than a third of the world’s young people residing in Africa”, said Dr. Mwangi.
“These global demographic shifts are the result of progress on the African continent including life expectancy, per capita income, health, education and improving nutritional levels. An outcome of these developments has been rapid population growth. Effectively leveraging the demographic dividend in Africa could account for up to 15% of GDP growth and a 17% reduction in poverty by 2030”.
The Council will meet every two months for an initial period of up to two years and will interact directly with senior management of the World Bank Group, ensuring that the Council’s ideas are taken forward.
“I’m honored to have been asked to serve on the World Bank Global Jobs Council, in order to support the creation of jobs for the young people of Africa”, said Dr. Mwangi. “Young people are our future and the key to sustainable development for the continent. Equity’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan seeks to create 50 million jobs in the region by 2030 and my intention is to utilize the learnings of the council to maximize this initiative.”
Other members of the council include Guy Ryder, Under Secretary General for Policy at the United Nations; Patrick Achi, the former Prime Minister of Cote d’Ivoire; Sebastien Bazin, Group Chairman and CEO of Accor Group; Nonkululeko Nyembezi, Chairman of Standard Bank Group; Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice President of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited; Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of OCP Group; Marianne Bertrand, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Madhav Chavan, co-founder and President of Pratham, the largest and most successful education organizations in India; Marcela Eslava, Professor of Economics at Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia; Fang Cai, Chief Expert at the National Think Tank at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Nicola Galombik, Head of Yellowoods Group; Roxana Maurizio, researcher and professor at the University of Buenos Aires Institute of Economics; Denis Minev, an angel investor in Amazon projects; and Rohini Pande, the Henry j. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University.
