Soro Soke

Winner of The Nine Dots Prize

For the first time in human history, people aged over 65 now outnumber children under five. Yet one region in the world is bucking this trend: the world’s top 20 youngest countries by population are all located in sub-Saharan Africa, and Africa’s population under 35 now equals almost a billion people.

While there has been much research and reporting in the West around the lives of millennials and Gen Z, little has been written on the dreams and aspirations, the fears and hopes, the needs and desires of young Africans. The Yoruba expression soro soke, meaning “speak up,” has become a clarion call for young Nigerians seeking to make their voices heard, resonating across the African continent and around the world via social media.

In Soro Soke, journalist Trish Lorenz speaks to the bright new entrepreneurs, artists, and activists of Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria, to understand what it means to be young in an otherwise aging world.