African Youth - Afrikan Heroes

Given Opportunity, African Youth Have Been Force for Positive Change, says Prof. Oramah

March 13, 2020

Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-import Bank

The new Africa presents the continent’s youth with an excellent battleground to join and wage the economic struggle that will finally liberate Africa, Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-import Bank (Afreximbank) has said. Speaking on Wednesday on the topic “Unleashing the Power of the Youth” while delivering the 14th Convocation Lecture of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UniZik) in Awka, Nigeria, Prof. Oramah said, “just as Africa’s political struggle was led by the youth, so will the youth lead the way for Africa’s economic emancipation”.

Youths represented agents of change across the social, political and economic spectra and history and contemporary evidence had shown that they had always been the catalyst to economic transformation, constituting the largest proportion of the labour force and the population at the height of the industrial revolutions in the advance countries, he said.

“History has shown that where the youth are given the opportunity, they have been the force for positive change,” noted Prof. Oramah who added that he considered the youth to be Africa’s greatest resource, “an asset much more valuable than all the oil and solid minerals we so frequently celebrate”.

He quoted the statement by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the former President of Nigeria after whom the university was named, that, “The immediate aim of African education should be to develop character, initiative, and ability of the youth of the country, so that they may be reliable, useful, and intelligent in the rapidly changing life and circumstances of their own people. …….. Anything narrower than this must lead to a stagnant and menacing flood of unemployed and unemployable youth.”

Prof. Oramah noted that the ubiquitous social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; Tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft; and e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and Alibaba; were founded by people in their youth. Youth-powered digital businesses accounted for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, one-third of the Chinese economy and eight per cent of the Indian economy, he added, saying that those companies were bigger in value than many African economies.

Despite limited opportunities, however, Africa’s youth was beginning to make important contributions to economic transformation on the continent, said Prof. Oramah. The African versions of Steve Job, Mark Zuckerberg, Alexander McQueen and Calvin Klein were rising like the Phoenix while others, like Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Lily Alfonso and Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, all started making impact in their various endeavours as youth.

Prof Oramah cited Ndubuisi Eze, a young drone expert who was identified by Singaporean investors at the inaugural Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo in 2018 and, subsequently, relocated to Singapore where he was able to get support to develop his company and now produces and exports drones to global markets.

Prof. Oramah also highlighted the Nigerian youth-led entertainment industry which is making significant gains and inroads into the global scene and noted that Afreximbank had recently announced a $500 million Creative Industry Financing Facility which was available to operators in the full spectrum of Africa’s creative sector. That facility was expected to boost youth participation in the African creative economy.

Prof. Oramah urged the youth to be prepared to take advantage of emerging opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and announced that Afreximbank had launched a number of initiatives and programmes to support African economies and the youth to maximize the benefits of the AfCFTA. Those included an incubation lab being put in place to support innovation and help bring innovative products to market.

Prof. Oramah paid tribute to the leaders whose visions made UniZik possible, including Chief Jim Nwobodo and Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, two former governors of Nigeria’s Anambra State, and former Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida under whose leadership the former Anambra State University of Science and Technology was renamed Nnamdi Azikiwe University and made a federal university.

Prof. Oramah also paid tribute to Dr. Azikiwe, who was Governor General of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and President from 1963 to 1966, saying that he was a freedom fighter who devoted his youth and entire life towards the emancipation of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular.

“He was fearless in his struggle, knew no boundaries in his scope and leveraged his legendary intellectual capacity to overcome the most complex of challenges. He understood the importance of education in the struggle for Africa’s renaissance. His passion for scholarship and Africa’s emancipation – what he stood for and his fulfilled life lived – presents us with an armour to engage in the complex battles of today,” said the Afreximbank President.

Earlier, Prof. Rasheed Abubakar, Executive Secretary of Nigeria’s National Universities Commission and Chairman of the Convocation Lecture, introduced Prof. Oramah, describing him as “one of the greatest minds” and saying that his lecture would stress the primacy of education.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

African Youth See Bitcoin as Opportunity to Build Entrepreneurial Ventures

October 4, 2019

Young Africans are searching for opportunities that will help engender their enterprising spirits and remove barriers to business initiatives, and Blockchain technology seem to be the answer to that expectations. This comes as the role of entrepreneurship in driving Africa’s prosperity in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) was among key topics at the last World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa which was held in Cape Town recently. To this end, Paxful , a leading peer-to-peer global bitcoin marketplace, is excited about the improving economic outlook for Africa and entrepreneurial growth opportunities.

Ray Youseff, CEO and co-founder of Paxful

With nearly 3 million users globally and Africa being its fastest-growing customer base, Paxful has a unique insight into the development of the crypto economy across the continent. The company is seeing an increase in the amount of entrepreneurial activity on its platform. Many young Africans see bitcoin as an opportunity to develop commercial ventures; users set up side-hustles and their own full-time businesses including remittance businesses. Paxful has found that users from Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa have been the most active to date this year with many operating drop-shipping businesses, payment services, as well as import-export ventures amongst others.

Intra-regional trade is one of the highest priorities for African governments, as evidenced by initiatives such as the historic African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. By some estimates, the AfCFTA could boost Africa trade by more than 33% and generate billions of dollars of GDP gains for the continent over the long term. Various studies have shown that the digital economy presents an opportunity for Africa to deepen trade relations and boost the continent’s GDP.

Already Paxful is seeing that many African users prefer to trade with each other – territories like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa lead intra-Africa trade activity on the Paxful platform. Over the years, Paxful has engaged many business owners who see a future for themselves in the crypto space. Beyond the big players, there are many ambitious up and coming bitcoin savvy business owners who focus on the African market. An entrepreneur-born in Malawi, named Grey, helps consumers buy and sell bitcoin. He has managed to expand his business to employ staff that helps consumers in Malawi to navigate the crypto space to better meet their financial needs. He also mentioned that many of his customers have limited access to credit cards, opting instead to buy bitcoin in order to purchase products and services on various e-commerce and streaming websites. Some of his customers will resell the products they buy for a profit. Others will keep the products for personal use or send them to loved ones.

Some of Grey’s customers even use bitcoin to purchase cars from vendors in Japan for resell in various African countries. Interestingly most of his customers find him on social media and through messaging apps.

Social development organizations that operate in Africa like Zam Zam Water and Grow Educare Centres have also expanded their sights to include cryptocurrency in raising funds for their projects. Zam Zam Water has built schools and pays teacher salaries for communities in need in Rwanda with money raised in the bitcoin industry. Bitcoin funds raised by Grow Educare Centres has bought supplies – including books, stationery, and toys – for low-fee kindergartens that support disadvantaged communities.

“While African entrepreneurs continue to face many lingering challenges, we have seen first-hand on our platform how the opportunity to use technology and innovate can achieve greater financial inclusion as well as socio-economic development and job creation,” Ray Youseff, CEO and co-founder of Paxful.

“As an African-born tech entrepreneur myself, my hope is that African governments, regulators and policymakers will create the right operating environment for the continent’s young Digi-entrepreneurs to succeed,” he added.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

AgriPitch Competition Winners at the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum Emerge

July 29, 2019

A veteran exporter of Kenyan fresh fruits and vegetables and a young South African farmer specializing in the design, provision, and management of indoor and outdoor hydroponic systems, were the winners of this year’s youth AgriPitch competition, organized by African Development Bank in partnership with the Western Cape Government in South Africa.

The event which is the 2019 youth AgriPitch Competition themed “Climate Smart Agriculture: Business and Employment Opportunities for Africa’s Youth” took place in Cape Town, South Africa from 24th to 28th July.

Kenyan Alex Muli, CEO, and Co-Founder of Goshen Farm won $25,000 for best agribusiness in the mature start-up category, while Paul Sheppard, from South Africa, Co-Founder of Future Farms, took the $10,000 prize for the early start-up category.

“It was a great event. I met many pioneers in the various agri-tech spaces with many potential and exciting projects, with the renewed hope of access to finance models coming to the fore. The prize money will help our company to upscale to the size we want to grow to, as well as meeting potential investors and learning more about the industry,” said Sheppard.

Muli, who co-founded Goshen farms with his mother in 2011, said it was exciting to be shortlisted as agripreneur in the Mature Startups category. “The boot camp was a great learning experience for me and helped me to know how to better tell the story about my business. I was humbled to meet fellow agripeneurs from other African countries who are doing great stuff out there hence rewriting our continent’s story, a story of hope, transformation, and sustainability by young Africans for Africa,“ he said.

Over 400 agribusiness proposals from across the continent participated in the AYAF competition, which culminated in an award gala dinner, where six winners from the two categories received a total of U$ 74,000.

This AgriPitch Competition was part of a larger forum, the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF) an annual forum of the African Development Bank’s flagship, Enable Youth Program, which focuses on youth employment and food insecurity.

“At the African Development Bank, we believe that the future of the continent’s youth lies in more rapid and inclusive economic growth which creates quality jobs. This is why the Bank has developed a number of key programs, such as Enable Youth and the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy. To date, the Bank has committed over $350 million to Enable Youth investments in 12 countries on the continent, “said Dr. Edward Mabaya, Manager, Agribusiness Development Division at the African Development Bank.

The forum provided a platform for youth agripreneurs and key stakeholders to brainstorm with experts, business leaders, investors and policymakers on issues that affect youth employment and key solutions to addressing these.

It also served as a call to action to support innovative agriculture growth through intense engagement and mentorship for small and medium enterprises and emphasized that with greater support and opportunities to set up their agribusiness enterprise, youth can become the driving force of Africa’s agriculture transformation.

Sponsors of the 2019 AgriPitch Competition and African Youth Agripreneurs Forum include the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (funded by The Netherlands, Demark, Italy, Sweden, and Norway); the Western Cape Government’s Department of Agriculture; The Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund; and The Africa Climate Change Fund.

“We strive to disrupt the African Agricultural ecosystem the way we do best by creating resilient markets for our agricultural produce. We will be there soon,” Muli said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.

Afrikan Heroes

Tag: African Youth

Given Opportunity, African Youth Have Been Force for Positive Change, says Prof. Oramah

African Youth See Bitcoin as Opportunity to Build Entrepreneurial Ventures

AgriPitch Competition Winners at the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum Emerge

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