{"id":4541,"date":"2019-08-14T10:11:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T07:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=4541"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:28","slug":"what-does-african-youth-need-to-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/08\/14\/what-does-african-youth-need-to-shine\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does The African Youth Need To Shine?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Caroline Numuhire<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to\na recent UN report (2019), \u201cSub-Saharan Africa will account for most of the\ngrowth of the world\u2019s population over the coming decades, while several other\nregions will begin to experience decreasing population numbers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are to become the continent with the highest rates of the employable youth population, it implies that our youth, more than ever, need guidance on how to make a dignified living on their mother continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nam not talking about just inspirational videos accessible on YouTube; I am\nreferring to intentionally creating enabling environment, policies, and\nstructures that really allow an African to strive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strive\nis not just a verb but it can also be a name, a name for an African, a name for\nan African billionaire who believes in the African youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few\nweeks ago, I had the privilege to listen to the Zimbabwe-born business magnate\nStrive Masiyiwa addressing Rwandan entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwas first struck by his deep understanding of the different sectors across the\nAfrican continent, and then by his sense of humility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nwas an evening of inspiration as he shared his journey. The most important take\nhome from that conversation was that our brains as Africans are our magnificent\nsource of wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nbusinessman who was portrayed in the Forbes Africa\u2019s book \u2018Africa\u2019s\nBillionaires\u2019, sent a strong message to all entrepreneurs that failure should\nbe celebrated even more than success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\nare not going to be a successful entrepreneur if you don\u2019t celebrate failure,\npick-up, and move on,\u201d he remined the audience with his wise tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nI like about businessmen like him or Vusi Thembekwayo and more others is that\nthey are a proven example that sons and daughters of ordinary families can\ncapitalize on existing opportunities and not only strive but also thrive on our\nbeloved continent that has, for incalculable times, been stereotyped for what\nit wasn\u2019t in its full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntime is now to stop blaming colonialism for most African problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nmust seize the full ownership of Africa\u2019s progress in our hands and the day the\nAfrican youth start to awaken the potential they have within, then they are\ncontributing, one step at time, to the advancement thus development of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwas recently challenged about what awakening one\u2019s greatness means and how it\ntranslates in the daily routine of African youth. I used to think that all the\nAfrican youth needed to succeed in life was hardworking, putting in that mega,\nextra effort and the doors of success will open automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nwise friend told me that that analysis could be interpreted as synonym of\nignorance, not necessarily arrogance. Ignorance because the assumption of\nmaking much effort was just one particular piece of the success puzzle but\nthere was a lot more needed to unlock the success that we all dream about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such\nenablers include the need for politically stable nations, quality education,\nconducive policies that allow entrepreneurship to blossom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nI interact with fellow young people, I am frustrated to find out that they\nsometimes equate success to a stroke of luck. And I always retort that this is\na flawed thinking;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nwealthy actually invest in skills, preparation and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\ntake risks, chase the right opportunities and make the right connections and\ndecisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nhis quiet tone, that evening, Mr. Masiyiwa reminded us that the wealth of\nAfricans is our minds, which I agree with. The dreamer, the passionate, the\npersistent, the wild, the courageous spirits have made the best entrepreneurs;\nthose who identified a narrow window of opportunities, grabbed it and made it\nblossom into millions of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\u2026\nmy intellect inner voice started a conversation about how factors such as\nquality of education, flourishing business environment, conducive policies,\nlack of corruption, language, access to opportunities contribute to the\nequation of success of Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nwhat is the weight of the brave spirit in the equation? I have seen how\nconducive environment have remarkably contributed to the innovation sector that\nhas led to new successful discoveries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minds\nare power but to which extent can our potential plateau? How much authority do\nAfrican young minds over their own success? How much can they dare? Who\nunfailingly remind them to dare? I am sure the answers to these questions exist\nsomewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nonce we refuse to focus on the strains tainting our continent\u2019s sky and focus\non the rays of sun, that day, we survive struggles and barriers to meet success\non the other end of the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nI do believe that the shape of hope for our continent has nothing to do with\nits map, where the top is big and shrinks at the bottom, at the end. We just\nhave to keep sowing productive seeds for thoughts in our African minds, our\nmost treasured wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read original\narticle<\/a> on the new times<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Caroline Numuhire According to a recent UN report (2019), \u201cSub-Saharan Africa will account for most of the growth of the world\u2019s population over the coming decades, while several other regions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}