Leadership Workshop Series
Hydrogen and Africa's Energy Future
How hydrogen is produced, where the demand is going, and what Africa has to build to take part
Watch an 81-second preview
Africa's hydrogen leaders, Kenya's geothermal edge, and the case for fertiliser
A working briefing on hydrogen production routes, markets and real applications, and on the data, skills and collaboration Africa needs to take part in them.
About this course
This course is built from a GEPA leadership workshop held in March 2026. The first half is a technical briefing on hydrogen: how each colour of hydrogen is produced, what the global market is doing, which technologies matter, and where hydrogen genuinely fits in transport, industry and power. The speaker is candid about the limits, including the conversion losses that make hydrogen a poor route to commercial electricity generation.
The second half turns to Africa. He sets out which African countries are moving, why he believes ammonia and fertiliser are the honest place to start, why trade and shipping inside the continent matter to any industrial ambition, and how thin research and missing data hold back both policy and investment. The discussion that follows, with the host and participants, is about execution: how to move an idea forward before there is money, why professionals should network with their peers instead of only upwards, and what building something does to the person who builds it.
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The recording joins the speaker part-way through his presentation, so the course opens mid-topic on the colours of hydrogen. The closing section is an open question and answer, with the host reading questions from the chat, and the course keeps that shape rather than forcing it into a framework the session did not use.
By the end you should be able to hold an informed conversation about hydrogen production routes and applications, argue realistically about what Africa should attempt first, and act on the speaker's advice about data, collaboration and getting started.
What you will be able to do
- Distinguish green, blue, grey, turquoise and pink hydrogen by the way each is produced
- Explain why turning electricity into hydrogen and back again is a weak route to commercial power
- Identify the sectors where hydrogen has a realistic role, from ammonia and fertiliser to heavy transport, steel and aviation
- Assess Africa's readiness on skills, research and data, and name the gaps that need work
- Apply the speaker's method for starting a project before the funding is in place
- Build peer networks and shared data rather than working in isolation
Who this course is for
- Energy professionals in Africa meeting hydrogen properly for the first time
- Engineers and project developers weighing hydrogen and ammonia opportunities
- Policy, regulatory and strategy staff working on the energy transition
- Researchers and postgraduate students choosing a specialism
- Mid-career professionals sitting on ideas they have not yet started
Curriculum
Course structure
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2 lessons
Module 1
The colours of hydrogen and how each is made
The production routes behind pink, turquoise, blue, grey and green hydrogen, and what actually separates them.
- Pink and turquoise hydrogen Free preview About 4 minutes
- Blue, grey and green: what carbon capture changes About 3 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 2
Demand, technology and where hydrogen really fits
What the global market is doing, the technologies along the chain, the efficiency penalty, and the sectors hydrogen can and cannot serve.
- Where the demand is going, and Africa's ecosystem gap About 3 minutes
- Electrolysers, storage, transport and the efficiency penalty About 3 minutes
- Which sectors hydrogen can decarbonise About 5 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 3
Africa's place in the hydrogen economy
Which African countries are moving, the first honest use case, the trade and shipping constraints, and the research and data gap behind it all.
- Africa's movers and the fertiliser opportunity About 3 minutes
- Trade, shipping and learning by doing About 3 minutes
- Think tanks, data and geopolitical weight About 4 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 4
Ideas, data and collaboration
The open discussion that follows the presentation: building the data Africa lacks, why ideas stall, and how professionals should work together.
- Measure it before you claim you will change it About 3 minutes
- Why ideas stall, and what to do about it About 2 minutes
- Network sideways About 5 minutes
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3 lessons
Module 5
Questions from the floor
The closing question and answer, covering nuclear, Nigeria's gas position, domestic hydrogen, and how to start building without money.
- Is nuclear clean, and what is hydrogen's near-term route in a gas-rich Nigeria? About 3 minutes
- Technical capacity, and starting before the money About 3 minutes
- Competence is the infrastructure About 5 minutes