Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs (A.Y.E) has inaugurated an Economic Development Team as part of the effort to improve the economy of African countries.
The team was inaugurated in order to effectively harness the windows of opportunities created by the group so as to add economic value to the African Nations by facilitating investment opportunity for global entrepreneurs and investors.
In his remark, Summy Francis, President of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs, observed that A.Y.E. has been waxing stronger since 2012 when it started, to be able to record the height of achievement and progress that it has so far.
According to him, the economic development team is one of the earliest visions of the organisation when it started in 2012 and it is being realised three years after.
He noted that the organization does not only identify brilliant minds in Africa, it also empowers these individuals in order to have significant impacts on the economy of the continent.
“This is not only important for the sake of profit, but it will lead to the development of our continent, it will also help drive the continent into prosperity, hence the need to set up the economic development team.
“This team is expected to work in partnership with several governments across Africa, from state governments to federal governments, for the growth of the continent.
“Today we are inaugurating the Nigerian team who will work closely with all levels of government in Nigeria to create solutions to problems in the country.
“Taking power supply for example, one of the attendees at Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs Empowering Nigeria (AYEEN) programme held last year, submitted a brief on power generation. The brief was so big that we could not handle it alone, but we have linked him up with an international investor.
“He may end up providing up to 40 – 50 percent of the power supply and that is just one out of the so many solution providers that we have who can help solve problems instead of waiting on the government.
“I am so happy that it took our generation, first to experience, to initiate and to achieve this particular movement that we see now – we are a team of people that the future generations will refer to for what we are able to do.
“I like to remind us that it is not going to be easy to take on Nigeria being a country with over 170million people. Then it is logical for us to assume it is also 170million problems because every household has a need. If it is not power supply, it would be healthcare, or water supply or bad roads, traffic,” the President stressed.
Similarly, the Vice President of A.Y.E., Ibada Ahmed noted that A.Y.E remains at the forefront of facilitating intra trade and bringing investments to Nigeria and Africa.
She added that the newly inaugurated team will accelerate that investment in Nigeria for Africa.
“With our network of more than 12million members and our presence in 19 countries, we offer a platform for the average entrepreneur to succeed. 700million of Africa’s populations are youths, that means 700million brain power and 700million man powers, our potential is unrivaled.
“We are the only organization that allows African entrepreneurs to connect with each other financially and socially regardless of our borders. We cannot influence immigration policies of independent states, but we can influence economic policies through direction and growth.
“We must continue to work together on ensuring every household in Africa is financially stable, community by community, region by region and Country by Country.
“We have been given A.Y.E as a one-stop financial and social platform to accelerate viability of businesses through private entrepreneurship and innovation; you must not exclude yourself from this opportunity.
“The future of our continent is very bright and in financial terms we see an acceleration of developing nations into developed nations,” she said.
Expressing readiness to take on the task ahead, Chairman of the team, Olubunmi Oluwadare thanked the board of A.Y.E ‘for giving us this great opportunity to constitute an economic team for this great Organization and also to package an investment framework that will allow entrepreneurs and investors to channel their funds and their intellectual endowment for the development and the advancement of African nations.’
According to Oluwadare, the vision is clear, the mission is well defined and the time is also ripe for its actualization.
“Once again, I must also salute the courage and doggedness of the A.Y.E leadership for creating enabling platforms for us to thrive on this great mission of creating a new path to bring economic prosperity to Africa.
“From the African perspective, development is a matter of realizing our potential and making the progress that we know is humanly possible because others have gotten there.
“It is a matter of dignity and self-reliance, a matter of creating the opportunities that will empower individuals and communities and of course, it means the beginning of the end of aid,” he said.
The chairman promised that his team will add economic values through active private-sector-driven participation and a strong entrepreneurship drive to enhance good governance in Africa.
“In 1990, the amount of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) received by Africa was $26 billion and Foreign Direct investment (FDI) was only about $1 billion.
“In 2013, ODA received by Africa was $56 billion and FDI was $57 billion. So while ODA has been growing and almost doubled since 1990, FDI which was less than 5% of ODA in 1990 has grown so quickly it has overtaken ODA. Now, ODA is easily and directly linked to development objectives.
He quoted the World Bank, saying that Africa provides the greatest return so, Africa is moving towards becoming the engine of global economic growth.
“Aside what African capital has been doing on the continent, over the last decade, FDI has been simply stunning. For many African countries, the largest levels of FDI are from Nigeria and South Africa rather than from outside the continent and there are a few examples of this increasing trend of Africans investing significant resources in their own countries and across the continent.
“So when we talk about the growth of the private sector in Africa, we are talking about the growth of infrastructure, housing, financial inclusion and stability etcetera. These all add up to increased development based on economic opportunity.
“This is a model that empowers individual African and harnesses the power of innovation, personal initiative, hard work, and collective market driven ingenuity to address previously intractable problems and change our continent forever.
“So, I conclude by urging policy makers and the international development community to recognize and embrace entrepreneurship as a new model for the development of Africa, and beyond.
“Finally, On behalf of my humble self and A.Y.E Economic Team, we thank the AYE leadership for the great opportunity and we are assuring you that we won’t fail in this assignment and we would put our best to create a better and prosperous Africa,” he summed.
