Africa
The African Development Bank marks Africa Day to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the African Union during its annual meeting in Egypt, with a call by Akinwumi Adesina, president of the bank, to member countries to risk their resources in support of enterprising youth in the continent to achieve prosperity
By Maureen Chigbo, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
IT was a joyous occasion on Thursday, May 25, as delegates attending the African Development Bank annual meetings converged in the state-of-the-art auditorium momentarily singing and dancing “One Love” and wishing one another Happy Africa Day. The Africa Day celebration marked the 60ieth anniversary of the establishment of the African Union. This year’s celebration focussed on youth who have been described as Africa’s greatest assets.
Calling on African countries to support their youth entrepreneurship, Akinwumi Adesina, president of African Development Bank, AfDB, said:
“Africa has young people who can grow bigger than Bill Gates; who can grow bigger than (Mark) Zuckerberg,” whose potential is evident in the fintech industry, which they dominate.
Stating that the occasion provided the impetus for the continent to rise despite its challenges, Adesina opined that “Africa should lift itself economically, financially, and politically to surmount every hurdle in its way.”
According to him, the continent has abundant resources that, if well-managed, can help move it forward. “We have great sunshine. We have water. We have 65 percent of arable land left to feed nine billion people worldwide by 2050. We have minerals and metals – 80 percent of the world’s platinum is in Africa, 50 percent of the world’s cobalt is in Africa; 40 percent of the world’s nickel is in Africa,” Adesina said, adding there must be consistent efforts to bolster peace and security to attract foreign investment and expand trade.
Adesina urged political and business leaders to put resources at risk behind Africa’s young people, whom he said, are very innovative. He cited various human capital support programmes of the bank to support startups including the YouthAdapt initiative jointly implemented with the Global Center for Adaptation.
Realnews reports that AfDB is also setting up youth entrepreneurship investment banks across Africa to support young people’s businesses. “Africa can have youth-based wealth, and to have that youth-based wealth, we need financial institutions around them,” he said, citing some celebrated African professionals who have excelled abroad in diverse areas.
He said the African diaspora is replete with talent that must be attracted to play a role in the continent’s transformation agenda.On his part, Albert Muchanga, African Union commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, paid tribute to African heroes who sacrificed to see the continent progress.
Observing that Africa’s progress over the 60 years has been mixed, Muchanga said: “As we look at the road travelled 60 years ago, we can celebrate some achievements, and one key achievement is continental unity; we can also not deny that there have been setbacks, and one of the key setbacks is unconstitutional changes of government.”
The African Union commissioner said all is not lost as there are high hopes for the new generation to drive the continent’s future. “The youth are the innovators, and they are able to take advantage of emerging technologies.”
He said the AU had instituted schemes across all its departments, including a Junior Professional Program to equip young graduates. It also has a start-up program that complements youth initiatives implemented by partner organizations such as the African Development Bank.
To him, the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area to foster trade policy harmonization and eventually transform the agreement into a common market will lead to adopting a single currency union.
Also, Ashraf Sobhy, Egypt’s minister of Youth and Sports, shared the successes of various initiatives implemented by his government to build the capacity of the youth. These include leadership programs involving the youth across the continent in partnership with the African Development Bank and Egypt’s central bank.
Sobhy called for further feasibility studies to assess the needs of the youth to provide the right environment for them to initiate critical projects for the continent’s transformation.
He said the Bank Group’s 2023 Annual Meeting recommendations would be essential to carving a path for the youth, whom he described as “the tree of life for our continent.”
There was a panel discussion of selected youth entrepreneurs from African who shared their experiences about their challenges while seeking financial support for their startups.
Unfortunately, one of the delegates observed that while the youths were reeling out the challenges they have in getting funding from banks in the continent, the bankers who had attended the award ceremony for them organised as a side event was not there to listen and see how they can help the youth overcome their challenges, Realnews reports.
Other prominent personalities who witnessed the celebrations of the milestone include Vincent Nmehielle, AfDB’s secretary general, who presided over the event, Egyptian government ministers and businesspeople as well as members of the board of governors of the bank.
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