Rome, February 2, 2011. On January 31, a round table entitled, “Young African Entrepreneurs- Beyond Aid”
was held in Rome as part of the Harambee forums on Africa. The speaker of the conference was Okendo Lewis Gayle, founder and president of the “Harambee Entrepreneur Alliance”, a network created in 2007 to encourage brilliant, young African graduates to carry out entrepreneurial projects in Africa.
“Numbers show positive outcomes”, Gayle explains, “with investments in Africa amounting to 72 billion dollars in 2010, an increasing per capita GDP and a general level of infrastructural development that is quite improved. The problem is that half the African population still lives under poverty level. Economic growth must represent an opportunity for all.”
For this reason Gayle, along with other University colleagues, began a network in 2007 that in just a few years has done something remarkable -pull together graduates from the best universities in the world pushed by the desire to find concrete solutions to complicated problems, to be entrepreneurs, not just for business opportunities, but for social and political opportunities too. To serve Africa. “Each year, 160,000 Africans apply to foreign universities in Europe or in the USA. If we want the continent to grow, we must make use of its most important resources- African intellectual capital”. Gayle continues, “It is not enough for our young people to just come back. They need to transform each of their talents and professionalism into concrete entrepreneurial initiatives. The main problem in Africa is not lack of willpower, but lack of opportunity. A minimal amount of opportunities need to be created from which energy and resources need to be activated”.
Since 2007, Harambee Entrepreneur Alliance has organized an annual symposium in Bretton Woods where students can meet and submit projects. 40 initiatives are selected and sustained each year. “We help develop ideas, guarantee initial support and then each one must find resources in their own country. The underlying idea is to efficiently use resources that are already present in Africa so as not to risk economic dependence on foreign aid, as is usually the case”. Since it was founded, this global network has carried out social projects and even true entrepreneurial initiatives involving several countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
As of today, students from 27 African countries belong to the network. “Young people like us want to contribute in the creation of a new Africa with a positive history.This is why we don’t need help, but entrepreneurs willing to believe in us and create partnerships for the development of concrete activities”.
Since 2007, Harambee Entrepreneur Alliance has organized an annual symposium in Bretton Woods where students can meet and submit projects. 40 initiatives are selected and sustained each year. “We help develop ideas, guarantee initial support and then each one must find resources in their own country. The underlying idea is to efficiently use resources that are already present in Africa so as not to risk economic dependence on foreign aid, as is usually the case”. Since it was founded, this global network has carried out social projects and even true entrepreneurial initiatives involving several countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
As of today, students from 27 African countries belong to the network. “Young people like us want to contribute in the creation of a new Africa with a positive history.This is why we don’t need help, but entrepreneurs willing to believe in us and create partnerships for the development of concrete activities”.
Harambee Africa International’s objective is also to give voice and visibility to this Africa, made up of concrete, prepared people able to re-instill the trust lost in many in their own countries by the dramatic events of everyday life.
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