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Beaven Tapureta : Bookshelf
“I believe solutions to youth unemployment lie in tapping into the so-called informal sector and finding ways of formalising it. Instead of governments viewing the informal sector as a nuisance, there is a lot that can be done to facilitate the evolution of the informal players into the formal.”Five young Zimbabweans drawn from different backgrounds are featured in a loaded publication titled “Africa80: Transformation through Collaboration” (2016, Success Climate Publishers) which was launched in South Africa this year.The five, who are Alvin Nyika, Gerald Chirinda, Ntandose Hlabangana, Phuthumani Mlotshwa and Tommy Deuschle are part of a group of 80 young African persons known as Global Shapers who subscribe to the reality that Africa is in dire need of its youth which in turn desperately need to be nurtured for the benefit of the continent.
At the 25th Annual World Economic Forum on Africa that was held last year in Cape Town, these 80 young leaders selected from about forty African countries were the major highlight of the event as they brought in a youth dimension to the deliberations.
Their stories captured in this book truly envision a continent bursting with youth potential and success in various fields such as manufacturing, technology, real estate, media and entertainment, financial services, agriculture, fashion and the service industry.
Speaking at the book launch held at the Crowne Plaza in Gauteng a few months ago, Buti Manamela, South Africa’s Deputy Minister in The Presidency, observed that books and pens must be “put in the hands of young people to educate and skill them for a better future for Africa”.
“The youth of our continent, constituting 65 percent of the population, are a catalytic force for the attainment of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“Your role and your actions will be instrumental in placing young people at the centre of the continuous development of the African development agenda,” said Manamela.
The deputy minister further noted that this book “Africa80” is a positive step towards Africa telling its own story. He urged young people to shape the narrative about Africa instead of giving it up to foreigners who often mislead through falsehood.
“We need stories that resonate with our lived experiences, content that shape and reaffirm our cultural identities, content that projects the images we can identify with,” he said.
Harare-based social entrepreneur, engaging speaker and Christian thought leader Alvin Nyika, who also was instrumental in hatching the “Africa80” book idea, said that the book will be launched at the Rainbow Towers in Bulawayo on September 30 this year.
His contribution in the book is titled “Be an Entrepreneur, Be An Innovator” and in it, one gets the illuminating understanding of what youth entrepreneurship actually means and why this is the way to go for Africa.
“In spite of the increasing recognition of entrepreneurship as a source of job creation, empowerment and economic dynamism in a rapidly globalising world, there has been no systematic attempt to look at it from a youth angle.
“The tendency has been either to subsume the youth into the general adult population or to ignore their efforts to forge a livelihood through enterprise activities,” writes Nyika.
Realising the need for entrepreneurial skills among young people, Nyika formed his organisation called Core Foundation which aims to “promote micro, small and medium entrepreneurial development in rural and urban areas working in collaboration with the local Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise and Cooperative Development in Zimbabwe”.
While young people encounter certain challenges like lack of skills and access to credit facilities, Nyika writes, “The role of Government is to drive transformation by providing a framework which includes economic incentives, standards and regulatory instruments that encourage innovation.”
Gerald Chirinda, co-founder of “Educate” which is a specialist education finance provider, has a dream to transform the education sector in Zimbabwe. Together with a friend named Terrence, Chirinda formed “Educate” modelled to specifically fund, empower, and enable students to pursue their academic dreams in a way that would allow their parents to have a structured way of making these school fees payments.
Armed with his vast management experience in financial management, corporate finance and business broking, Chirinda ventured in the education sector with passionate determination.
Recently, the company launched an initiative called Educate Dreamers which it will collaborating with organisations and other private sector players in paying school fees and assisting with educational material for orphaned children in Zimbabwe.
Another young Zimbabwean contributor in “Afrca80” is Bulawayo-based Ntandose Hlabangana, who is the Founder and Vice Chairperson of Rising Hope Foundation, an organisation that works to assist orphans, widows and under developed schools in the Matebeleland Province and beyond.
In her contribution titled “The Power to Educate”, Hlabangana, just like Chirinda, shows a deep passion for making education accessible to disadvantaged people in society.
Raised by a single mother who made sure her children had access to the best education no matter what cost it meant for her, Hlabangana takes education as an issue close to her heart and during the World Economic Forum, she facilitated a session on civic participation covering discussion points such as democratic engagement, pluralism and discrimination, poverty, inequality and social conscious business and how these are interlinked to education.
Phuthumani Mlotshwa, a medical laboratory scientist with Population Services International (Zimbabwe) who also hails from Bulawayo, writes about “Youth Unemployment Alleviation”. He reflects on a session he participated in called “Informal is the new Normal’ held at the World Economic Forum.
“I believe solutions to youth unemployment lie in tapping into the so-called “informal sector” and finding ways of formalising it. Instead of governments viewing the informal sector as a nuisance, there is a lot that can be done to facilitate the evolution of the informal players into the formal,” he writes.
Tommy Deuschle, based in Harare, seem to highlight the theme of the book, which is collaboration. Deuschle is not a stranger to Zimbabwean arts and culture landscape.
A columnist with the Herald Business, he also attended the World Economic Forum in Cape Town last year where he facilitated a session on arts and culture. His contribution titled “Collaboration: Connecting and Launching Start-Ups in Zimbabwe” talks about the monthly entrepreneur event called Pitch Night which he started in 2013 in Harare.
At each Pitch Night forum, he says, three entrepreneurs present the companies for a few minutes, followed by the Pitch Night community “bringing in a wave of challenges, questions, and support that accelerates these growing companies like no other marketing campaign could do”.
This initiative has brought in results such as support from partners of the event such as Telecel, Global Shapers and more, distribution deals, new relationships, media coverage, and many more benefits.
Other contributors in “Africa80” are young people changing lives and economies in their different countries in Africa.
As the continent gears itself for transformation, much of its energy must be invested in collaborative ideas among its young people and forge a spirit of unity.
Online Reporter