African higher education has witnessed phenomenal enrollment growth in the last decade--and this trend is expected to continue well into the future owing to the continent's youth bulge. In this "massifying" system, the academic profession faces a paradox: as the academic profession at the senior level is aging it is also concurrently growing younger at the lower level. The situation is serious in the newer institutions--which are dominated by academic neophytes--with limited guidance and role models in their midst. This trend has become a concern both inside and outside academia. This article provides a concise background on the state of higher education in Africa, discusses issues surrounding Early Career Academics in global context, and concludes with a glance of the African practice with the induction to the academic profession, with emphasis on teaching praxis.