Last week, I visited two promising countries in East Africa – Uganda and Rwanda. My trip to Uganda was for engagements relating to the United Bank of Africa and the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme, while my Rwanda visit was to co-chair the World Economic Forum on Africa alongside Akin Adesina, President of the African Development Bank; Graca Machel, former first lady of Mozambique and widow of Nelson Mandela; Phillipe le Houerou, CEO of the International Finance Corporation and Tarek Sultan Al Esso, Vice Chairman of the Board Agility.
Touchdown Uganda
Straight from the airport, I rushed to attend a town hall meeting with the Board and staff of UBA Uganda. It was a good opportunity to bond and discuss new effective ideas on how we can keep supporting our customers and help facilitate payments and intra-Africa trade to promote regional integration. It’s a new dawn of effectiveness and efficiency at UBA Group.
UBA Uganda staff have a surprise gift for me!
A highlight of my time in Uganda was meeting the Ugandan Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs and introducing them to their President, Mr. Yoweri Museveni. The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) is a $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and seed 10,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next 10 years.
Catching up with Uganda Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs
The program is open to African citizens any age, gender, nationality, education-level and sector or interest. We call this ‘Democratizing Opportunity’ and our goal is to unlock 1 million jobs and $10 billion in additional revenue across Arica towards the economic transformation of the continent. The Tony Elumelu Foundation is not just seeding entrepreneurs with start-up capital, we are growing a new generation of Africapitalists.
Parminder and I share a laugh with President Museveni
We are explicitly nurturing a new generation of African entrepreneurs who, from their start-up phase, are developing and executing business ideas and strategies with the dual purpose of making financial returns and meeting social development objectives, across the value chain.
TOE, Parminder (CEO Tony Elumelu Foundation), Uganda Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs and President Museveni
It was also a good time to introduce the leadership of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) in Uganda to the President. UBA has a strong presence in 19 African countries, plus New York, Paris and London – a confirmation of its befitting slogan “Africa’s Global Bank”.
UBA Uganda leadership meet with the President
After visiting the president, it was time to depart for Rwanda, the beautiful land of many hills.
This year’s World Economic Forum on Africa focused on the 4th industrial revolution and the impact it will have across the continent. Most of the sessions were centred on creating dynamic and effective strategies to encourage long term development and continued economic growth in light of both the opportunities and challenges faced on the continent.
The Launch of the MoveAfrica Initiative, themed “Moving Goods & Facilitating Trade” and organized by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) provided a platform for key stakeholders to discuss the poor state of infrastructure on the continent and its impact on intra-regional trade and integration. However, I emphasized that it was a mark of progress that more African governments now see and acknowledge the value of regional corridors and trans-Saharan highways and the importance of enabling policies to improve infrastructure. If African countries can still grow at the rates of 3-5% with these logistical challenges, imagine what kind of growth we could have with just a 20% improvement in our transportation infrastructure?
During the Move Africa panel session
Following this, I was a panellist at the plenary session titled “Growth in Africa – Rising or Falling?” alongside Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Oxfam International; Daniel Kablan Duncan, Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire and; David A. Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Grow Africa plenary with President Kenyatta
The Grow Africa panel attempted to answer the question “Is Africa rising or falling?” My answer to that is a resounding yes. Africa is indeed rising. Regardless of what you may have heard about investing here, Africa remains one of the most profitable investment destinations in the world. I wish I had more resources to invest on the continent and in her people. The potential here is limitless.
We must not shy away from telling the world about our successes in Africa. This will attract others to invest here. The public and private sector must work together realizing the development of our continent depends on us Africans. As I mentioned in my interview with CNBC Africa, what is most important is that we develop the next set of African leaders. This is why I am passionate about empowering African youth through the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme.
My CNBC WEF Africa interview – Africa is indeed rising!
The next morning, there was a Co-chairs breakfast session attended by all key stakeholders. There was no doubt that the top three KEY issues for the continent as emerged from the World Economic Forum on Africa are: job creation, access to power and transportation. However, my key takeaway from Rwanda is the urgency required in MAKING THESE HAPPEN – creating economic opportunity and employment on the continent – so that our talks can become meaningful to our people. We must invest in the youth of Africans that our demographic dividend doesn’t become DEMOGRAPHIC DOOM.
Attending the breakfast session with Dr. Akin Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB)
While Africa is on the move, we have to make it an inclusive move by EMPOWERING young Africans through entrepreneurship across the continent. The private sector on the continent must be an integral part of this movement. This is how collectively we can all create massive jobs and employment for our youths and this is how we can address our society’s most pressing needs. The vast numbers of youths who do not have jobs on the continent heighten social and economic fragility in Africa.
Abimbola (COO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation) and Rwanda Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs
At our co-chairs press conference, I called on other wealthy Africans and members of the international development community who want to help Africa truly develop, and organisations committed to youth empowerment and job creation, to take up the rest of the 63,000 applications from our Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme. The programme has received 65,000 applications and we are only able to support 1,000 entrepreneurs each year in line with the terms of the $100m commitment. To make lasting impact and begin the transformation that we desire for Africa, I invite you to partner with the Tony Elumelu Foundation to support entrepreneurs from our pool of unselected candidates.
With fellow co-chairs, Graca Machel, former first lady of Mozambique and widow of Nelson Mandela; and Tarek Sultan Al Esso, Vice Chairman of the Board Agility.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation also launched its recent report on the agriculture ecosystem on the continent, “Unleashing Africa’s Agricultural Entrepreneurs”, at the World Economic Forum. Speaking of the report, the Kenyan Agriculture minister in attendance stated “you have totally changed our mind-set about agriculture and our youth. We need to go back to the drawing board to re-strategise based on your findings about how to keep youth in agriculture and commercialize the sector.” A Senior Economist at NEPAD, also in attendance, concluded that this was the most relevant piece of research on agriculture and youth on the continent he has come across in his entire career. Great job, TEF!
Launch of the highly-acclaimed Tony Elumelu Foundation Agriculture report, “Unleashing Africa’s Agricultural Entrepreneurs”