Can Africa Build the Workforce to Deliver Its Energy Ambitions?

Africa's energy and infrastructure pipeline is growing, but finance alone will not move projects from ambition to delivery. Does the continent have the technical expertise, leadership capacity and institutional systems required to execute at scale? Hosted by Energy News Network (ENN) and The Electricity Hub, Let's Talk Energy continues its series recorded at the Africa Energy Forum 2026 with Zandile Hlatwayo, Strategy & Innovation Director of Allied Talent Partners (ATP). The conversation examines why projects often stall at the point of execution, from weak project preparation and complex stakeholder coordination to shortages of specialist expertise at critical stages of development. Zandile discusses ATP's work connecting organisations with highly skilled independent professionals across energy, infrastructure, climate and sustainable development, and explains why faster access to technical talent, stronger local knowledge and more flexible workforce models could help accelerate delivery across African markets. The episode also explores the importance of knowledge transfer, institutional capacity and long-term skills development, and why Africa's industrialised future will depend not only on building projects, but on building the workforce capable of sustaining them.