The African youth deliberate on ICTs and entrepreneurship

Addis Ababa, 17 November - Over 100 youth delegates from all over Africa deliberated on ICT & Youth entrepreneurship during the ADF V Breakout Session, which was held on 16th November 2006 organised by the ICT, Science and Technology Division. During the session, participants discussed best practices in using ICTs as a tool to promote youth initiatives and leadership and to foster broader economic development process. Participants shared a number of exciting and innovative ideas and activities undertaken by African youth in the areas of entrepreneurship, ICT and Youth-led social enterprises as well as job creation.

Speaking at the opening, Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer in Charge of the ICT, Science and Technology Division, said “ICT is an area which has a natural affinity with the youth and the African youth should strive to exploit the opportunities offered by ICTs to assist development efforts in their respective countries”. She also highlighted "the need for developing the ICT capacities of African youth, specially in the area of building entrepreneurial skills”.

The keynote speaker, Mr. Oluwagbenga Sesan, Team Leader of the IT Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria, stressed the importance of focusing on producing entrepreneurs rather than job-seekers, which unfortunately is the case in most African educational systems. The speaker outlined the need for forging partnerships with various stakeholders and a paradigm shift in educational systems so that young people in Africa can maximize on opportunities offered by ICTs for the 21st century. Mr. Sesan said, “Africa should start flying, not running if we want to achieve our developmental goals in which the youth play a great role.” He also called for the creation of Youth and ICT entrepreneurship Fund for Africa.

The Vice Minister for Science and Technology of Zimbabwe, Mr Patrick Zhuwas, shared with participants his own personal experiences as a young ICT entrepreneur, which resulted in his success. He said, “African youth should be at the forefront of owning Africa’s resources and utilise it for the economic development of the continent through hard work, commitment, and the appropriate use of ICTs in developing entrepreneurship skills”.

Dr Edita Vokral, representing the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), which supported the participation of a number of young people from Africa through the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) and ECA, appreciated the wonderful ideas and exciting and innovative activities underway in Africa, and suggested that there is a strong need for developing the culture of experience and knowledge sharing mechanisms so that everybody will benefit in contributing to development goals.

Mr Adel El Zaim, Senior Program Specialist from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada stressed the importance of promoting research, innovation, application of science and technology for guiding the youth to the future through creating research networks.

The session concluded with recommendations and consensus statement as input to the main ADF V report, and outcomes promoting the objectives of the African Youth in ICT for Development Network (AYIN), an outreach initiative under the aegis of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) as part a key stakeholder input into the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

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