The World Economic Forum will take place – as usual- in Davos, Switzerland from 21st to 24th of January 2015. This year the thee is “growth and inequality” . Some young entrepreneurs will represent the African continent during the forum. This gives us the opportunity – through some entrepreneurs that will attend the World Economic Forum – to think about what are the 5 main things to do to continue the Africa rising movement.
1- Changing the African girl image: Girls represent one of the best chance for the continent to grow. This is what Lebogang Maruapula (on the left) believes. She creates GODDESS, a foundation providing young girls of Botswana with education, coaching and leadership skills. By educating future women, Lebogang is showing that African girls are full of resources and only needs opportunities to show what they are capable of.
2- Telling the REAL African story: Unfortunately, most of our stories are still told by foreigners. Therefore, they lack the African inside needed to understand, to criticize, and more often these past years, to admire and empower. This is what Amaka Okechukwu (on the left), through Afrimind is doing: Telling the African story from an African perspective.
3- Seeing New technology as an opportunity: Everyone knows that internet is taking over the continent. The number of internet users is increasing and with it, the number of tech companies. Unfortunately, technology is not use to upgrade the profitability of our agriculture – to name only one sector. Sara Menker, founder of Gro Intelligence understood that and wanted to fill the gap. Gro Intelligence uses data to optimize agricultural productivity. This is the next step that our tech entrepreneurs need to reach: profitability optimization through technology.
4- Promoting entrepreneurship: Africa is a place where companies can help solve problems. It is a place for creativity. This creativity and ingenuity can only be expressed if experienced people help young entrepreneurs develop their ideas strategically. Indeed networking and events such as the Tech Camp West Africa, organized by Ato Ulzen Appiah, are more than needed throughout the continent. The civil society has to help our government in building a new generation of entrepreneurship.
5- Solving day-to-day problems: This can be done by focusing on priority sectors such as agriculture or health care. Basic health needs are not yet covered in Africa. In Cameroon for instance, there are 782 deaths for 100,000 births. Most of these deaths are due to a lack of information on prevention programs. To solve this issue, Alain Nteff founded Giftedmom, which goal is to reduce maternal and newborn health in Africa.
