Africa should be proud to have 68% of its population as young people compared to other continents who are possessing an ageing majority citizenry. African youths are the lifeblood to the success of this continent and should play a decisive role firstly in the political space we should start demanding a sit on the table, economically we should own the means of production and be active in all strategic sectors and socially we should champion UNITY proposed by our forefathers like Kwameh Nkrumah.
Government should make deliberate policies that favor youth ownership, skills development and political grooming platforms so that the future of our countries do not remain in the hands of the old generation.
FDI for me should be last of our priorities. It carries more negatives than positives. In actual fact development should never be foreign enhanced; it should be domestic. We have more than enough natural resources and manpower to revolutionize our economies but there is lack of will. If anything has killed our prospects it is the mentality of imaginary investor coming with bags of money to improve our lives. The secret lies in value addition and beneficiation of our resources and African Unity. Imagine Africa has 33 currencies …why can we not we have a single currency and a single market?
All sectors of our economies are under-utilized. For starters we can secure food security as I believe food is a political weapon of influence. We can exploit agricultural land we possess, the mines and set tone for financial market skills that can make us competitive on the global arena.
Currently I run large scale agricultural projects including an irrigation scheme, a fisheries project and a chicken farm as I believe this can go a long way improving the food security of my country. Apart from this we are setting up a lobby group for young people that calls for involvement of youths in governance, economics and ownership of means of production. The older generation fought colonization, we should fight hunger and poverty.
The main challenge is the over-regulation of sectors which makes it harder for the youth, the women, the marginalized, the poorest of the poor to play a part. A woman intending to open a coffee kitchen is asked same requirements with Spur or Chicken Inn or Mugg and Bean. In this regard current policies do not cater to start-ups but supports established businesses.
I have financed all my projects from personal savings. The secret being financial discipline and focus. Start small but expand at every corner you can.
Actually, waiting for employment is colonial mindset. We should thrive to create employment ourselves. However, we cannot all be employers my advice to young people who are struggling to get opportunities is that we should pressure relevant authorities especially in issues to do with correcting imbalances. Young people should apply for land and mining claims.
I would radically start by disengaging from the evil trinity of IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation which serves imperial powers not developing countries interests. Secondly, I would not repay any debts which are the trappings for our underdevelopment. If we don’t repay debts to imperialist organizations they will not die but if we repay, we will die because we won’t manage to finance health and education let alone development. Also, I would radically deal with corruption and incompetency in government offices so that leaders learn to lead.
The odds are not looking good because we are thinking of trading raw materials and not finished products. We are still having colonial hangover and have shown our inability to be self-sufficient. HOWEVER, it is possible to create a generation that can compete on the world stage as equals not as servants.