What might neuro-diversity, cars and insurance have in common? Potentially nothing, unless you start to connect the dots.

The African population is growing faster than the continent's ability to create jobs. An estimated 27 million young people will enter the workforce between 2025 and 2030, and Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to account for 90% of the growth in the world's working age population between 2030 and 2050.

Years ago I proposed that we create unprofitable jobs, arguing we would be better off economically with people getting up and going to work, even at a loss making job. Participation in the economy generates more value than the loss attached to the job itself. Economists thought I was nuts. Today, not so much.

A few facts to get the juices going

• The World Economic Forum ranks insurance as the industry that most requires creativity.
• Light truck and delivery drivers sit ninth on the list of fastest growing jobs.
• New passenger car sales rose 20.1% in twelve months, and light commercial vehicles 6.9%.
• South Africa's ICT system holds 317,412 jobs, with 118,546 vacancies, of which 41,491 are junior level.
• Only 24% of entrants into South African universities and colleges come out the other end.
• One in five people is considered neurodiverse.

Cars, insurance, SME jobs

Who is buying the new cars? My hypothesis is the upper informal market: people starting small businesses, becoming light vehicle or ride hailing drivers, upgrading from a bike to a small car. There may be a groundswell of informal SMEs keeping the economy ticking over that never appears in national reports because they are unbanked.

Every car owner has the right to choose where the vehicle is serviced. If units go up, so does service, spares and maintenance. Imagine smart service centres at the edges of townships where you can work and drink a cappuccino while you wait. And if banks cannot read an SME's creditworthiness from a bank statement, why not read it from insurance data instead?

Neurodiversity, creativity, thinking jobs

What can neurodiverse people do better than most? Think creatively. SAP South Africa runs an autism at work program, and when asked what they put in place to attract that talent the HR director replied, nothing, they already got through the door. What they added was quiet rooms, dimmer lighting and individual pods.

Young minds, experience, ICT jobs

What do graduates need to get a job? Experience. It is the catch 22 for all young people: no job without experience, no experience without a job. Hire, build, deploy is an active model in the UK. Hire people with a passion for web development, guarantee a six month contract, then encourage clients to poach the staff. They try before they buy, and the graduate gets the experience of a lifetime.

"When we change the question that we ask, we change the answer that we get. Ideas are the beginning of thinking, not the end."