Tony Elumelu, chairman, UBA Group and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, stressed the importance of entrepreneurship for the economic prosperity of young people and African countries at the official launch of GenU Sahel Initiative, part of Generation Unlimited (GenU), a global multi-sector, youth focused partnership, which is looking at connecting and empowering 10 million young people with entrepreneurship acquisitions, employment opportunities and relevant skills needed to thrive in the digital economy and foster economic development in the region by 2030.
The new initiative proceeds the July 2021 announcement of a historical $1.6 billion funding by the United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel (OSCS) in partnership with other development organisations to support the development of the ten Sahelian countries in the course of five years (2022-2027).
Amina Mohammed, United Nations deputy secretary general, who presented the opening address at the virtual event tagged, “A Leap For Sahel Youth”, noted that the Sahel is one of the most youthful regions of the world with over 64 percent of the population under 25 years of age, while more than half of the numbers are women and girls.
Commenting on the significance of GenU, she pointed out that millions of people living in the Sahel face insecurity and serious challenges to sustainable development which has been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mohammed enjoined governments of the Sahel, United Nations entities and development partners to give the initiative their maximum attention and support to enable a sustainable growth.
But Elumelu stressed the importance of entrepreneurship in advancing young people towards a structured economic prosperity while at the same time accelerating economic development for countries in the continent.
He lamented that over two million people in the Sahel region have been forced to flee their homes with millions more losing their sources of livelihood as resources are scarce and opportunities are limited, leading to more tension and conflicts within communities in the Sahel region.
He asserted that a collective effort, such as the GenU project is needed to find a lasting solution to the crises bothering the region, adding that empowering and investing in the people,especially the young ones in the Sahel will give them hope and opportunity to attain sustainable economic growth.
Highlighting the commitments of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) towards fostering youth development in the Sahel, the founder pointed out that 1.5 million young Africans across the African continent have been trained through the annual Tony Elumelu Foundation entrepreneurship programme.
He stated further that the TEF has consistently provided $5,000 non-refundable capital to beneficiaries, facilitated business training/mentorship for young entrepreneurs to scale their enterprises, and funded 10,898 African entrepreneurs, who have in turn, created additional 400,000 direct and indirect jobs across the continent.
The foundation, he disclosed, has also partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to identify, train, mentor and fund 2,100 young entrepreneurs in the Sahel region, including Northern Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger,Chad, Cameroun, Mali and Mauritania.
Speaking in the same vein, Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), averred that young people are the engine of economic growth, adding that investing in the potential of young Sahelians is key to unleashing massive transformation in the region.
Steiner noted that the UNDP in partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, has established a youth empowerment initiative to support 100,000 entrepreneurs across Africa over the next ten years.
He further explained that the UNDP’s long term investment in the young people of the Sahel, which includes collaboration with the African Union on the Youth Connect Africa initiative, will complement GenU’s new efforts in helping young people to roll out local development and shape the future that they want.
“Moreover, UNDP’s new regional project for youth empowerment in the Sahel will boost skills in key areas like entrepreneurship and digital technology. All of these support will ensure that young people are equipped with the knowledge and expertise that they need for the jobs today and for the future in the spirit of GenU,” he stated.
In her address, Sanda Ojiambo, executive director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), explained that Africa,with an estimated 60 percent of the its 1.25 billion populace under the age of 25, has the youngest people in the world, adding that the continent must capitalise on the demographic dividend to help young people claim their rightful position at the forefront of economic and social progress globally.
Citing a World Bank report which showed that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent 90 percent of the economy and 50 percent of employment worldwide, Ojiambo emphasised that joining forces to mobilise the SME sub sector is a logical way to benefit young people in the Sahel and across Africa.
“Future collaborations with GenU open up opportunities for socially conscious, climate aware and productive young people to enter a working life with a mindset that encompasses people, planet, and profit outcomes and that will lead us to the Africa we want, leaving no one behind,”she said.
In his remarks, Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, a UAE-based global philanthropic organisation, said that the Sahel region is one of the most neglected and conflict ridden regions in the world.
On the way forward, Al Gurg urged organisations to look beyond the challenges and work towards creating hope and highlighting the opportunities that the GenU initiative will generate for millions of young people in the region.
“As a member on board GenU’s global leadership council, the core of our work and efforts for the past 18 months has been around working together to push forward and mobilise strategies that will mitigate the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 on Sahelian youths. Meaningful and dynamic partnerships between the private and public sectors and civil societies towards ensuring that youths are being integrated as the core of the partnership and encouraged to be part of the broader solutions to promote growth within the Sahel region,” he added.
Also speaking, Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, noted that an estimated 22 percent of young people are unemployed, uneducated and not engaged in any training. This, he disclosed, has been worsened by the Copvid-19 pandemic which widened the social divide, leaving the jobless, untrained and uneducated youth population most vulnerable.
Jope expressed excitement over Unilever’s partnership with GenU, stressing that the goal is to prepare young people for future job opportunities by helping them discover their purpose and by providing access to skills training,volunteering and work experiences.
“To achieve our goal, young people need to be at the front and center, we need to create opportunities that young people think are important and with Generation Unlimited, we are better placed to empower the greatest generation yet to come,” he said.
In his closing remarks, Kevin Frey, CEO Generation Unlimited, explained that goals of the initiative can only be achieved if the public sector comes together with the private sector, multilaterals and youths to unlock unlimited opportunities for young people in the sahel.
Frey also expressed optimism that working in partnership with the young people can help change the trajectory and unlock the potential of the youths in the Sahel.
