Libreville, Saturday, July 11, 2026 – Africa’s economic transformation is no longer just debated in boardrooms or government chambers. Today, it is being shaped in university lecture halls, vocational training centers, and the classrooms of the continent’s next generation of leaders.
The third edition of Gabon’s Yam’NA program, launched jointly by Eramet Comilog and SETRAG, embodies this shift. Behind the announcement of 50 new scholarships for Gabonese high school graduates lies a far-reaching strategy: cultivating the skills needed to drive the country’s industrial transformation over the coming decades.
Officially inaugurated on July 10 in Libreville, this latest phase of the program represents a significant evolution since its 2024 inception under Eramet Comilog’s Beyond initiative and its Act for Positive Mining corporate responsibility framework. To date, nearly 50 Gabonese students have already benefited from higher education support through the program.
The inclusion of SETRAG as a partner in this third edition marks a new chapter, expanding the program’s national scope by aligning Gabon’s mining sector with its most critical infrastructure—its railway network—around a shared mission: investing in Gabonese human capital.
Bridging the skills gap of tomorrow
For decades, Africa’s extractive economies have exported raw materials while relying on imported technical expertise for processing. Gabon is now turning this model on its head.
The 50 new scholarships for the 2026-2027 academic year will target sectors identified as pivotal to the nation’s future: metallurgy, steel production, industrial chemistry, agro-processing, agroforestry, and green economy professions. This strategic pivot is no coincidence—it aligns with national ambitions to boost local resource processing, enhance value addition, and gradually reduce dependence on foreign expertise.
The stakes extend beyond mere job placement. The goal is to cultivate engineers, technicians, metallurgists, environmental specialists, industrial process experts, and mid-level managers who will spearhead tomorrow’s transformation of Gabon’s manganese, iron, timber, and agricultural products.
In a global landscape shaped by energy transitions and fierce competition for strategic minerals, raw resource ownership alone is no longer sufficient. Countries must now possess—or develop—the capabilities to process these resources locally and capture their economic value.
Sovereignty through education
The Yam’NA program targets Gabonese nationals under 25 who have passed their baccalaureate exams and wish to pursue higher education in technical, industrial, or environmental fields within Gabon. Applications are open from July 8 to 28, 2026.
Beyond financial aid, the initiative seeks to align academic pathways with real-world industrial demands—a persistent challenge across African economies. While companies struggle to fill specialized roles, graduates often face barriers in saturated or misaligned fields. The partnership between Eramet Comilog and SETRAG offers a tangible solution to this structural issue.
As Gabon’s largest private employer—with nearly 3,500 direct jobs across its Comilog and SETRAG subsidiaries—Eramet remains a cornerstone of the nation’s and subregion’s economy. SETRAG, meanwhile, operates the 648-kilometer Transgabonais railway, linking inland mines to the Owendo port and annually transporting nine million tons of goods and hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Skills as the new frontier of development
Africa is entering a new economic phase where the competitive edge lies not just in infrastructure or capital, but in the skilled workforce driving industrial change. Nations that succeed will be those transforming their youth into engines of value creation.
The Yam’NA program embodies this long-term vision. By steering students toward local processing and green economy careers, Gabon is not merely reacting to industrial needs—it is preemptively shaping them. The objective is clear: foster a generation capable of not just extracting resources but refining, enhancing, and leveraging them to build lasting economic sovereignty.
Prospective applicants can access eligibility criteria and application details through the dedicated Yam’NA portal.