Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Grand Africa Initiative (GAIN), a Pan-African non-governmental organization on a mission to help African youths develop and harness their potentials, unique ideas, talents and abilities to succeed in education, employment, entrepreneurship and innovation has announced that its 2020 youth summit will begin on Friday and conclude on Saturday.
The Summit, according to the organizers, present a unique platform that primarily targets the youths as key actors in the development agenda of Africa.
The Summit, they added, will also focus on channeling the energy and enthusiasm of the youths to positive ends by empowering them and building their capacities to drive positive personal, community, national and continental developmental goals. Additionally, opportunity will be provided to build alliances, networks and promote multi-level collaboration for maximum impact.
Executive Director of GAIN, Chinwe Okoli, in a statement, said that speakers from across the world have confirmed their availability for the Summit, thus urging youths to take advantage of the opportunity to get empowered and exposed to toolkits for success in 21st century technology driven world.
She said: “The keynote speaker for the Summit is Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, Member, Presidential Economic Advisory Council, and former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while the lead speakers include; Her Excellency, Mrs Teneng Mba Jaiteh, The Ambassador Plenipotentiary of The Gambia to Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union; His Excellency S. F Houmard, The President of in Global Office of the Global Union and Its Permanent Mission and a.i Chairman GU’s GHCF Foundation. HQ Switzerland; His Excellency, Mr Georges R. P. Chikoti.
Others are the Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS); Mr. Tomi Davies ‘TD’, Collaborator-in-Chief, TVC Labs/President, African Business Angel Network (ABAN), Nigeria; Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Mr Modise J.Motloba, The Group CEO, Tysys Capital Group, South Africa; Mrs Fati N’zi-Hassane, Supervisor, Human Capital Division AUDA-NEPAD, African Union and over 30 more speakers from 22 countries.”
Okoli was optimistic that the Summit will not only explore the real issues with unemployment in Africa but expose the youths to opportunities that abound in various sectors and how they can tap into the opportunities.
She confirmed that the Summit sessions have been categorised into employment stage, education/student stage, entrepreneurship/innovation stage, action stage to enable registered participants participate fully in the sessions of their choice.
She, however, maintained that GAIN has the utmost desire to Gather, Empower, Mentor and Monitor (GEMM) African youths to succeed in education, employment, innovation and entrepreneurship in order to reduce poverty, inequality, illegal migration crises and insecurity, and to achieve a safer, more economically empowered and developed Africa through youth development.
“Africa, obviously, has a social structure characterised by massive young population. So it’s important to find ways of gathering, mentoring and empowering these young population to take advantage of emerging opportunities,” she said.