On Saturday, October 15, 2022, the 5th edition of the youth connect summit came to an end in Kigali, Rwanda after three days of networking sessions, masterclasses, and conferences
About the Summit
This year’s summit is themed “Accelerating investments in Youth: Resilient Youth, Resilient Africa” and thousands of young innovators and leaders from all over the world were seen in attendance at the event as different ways to promote growth and advancement for the youth from the African continents were being discussed.
At the event, participants from roughly 30 African countries were seen conversing on how to move forward and involve the youths in African trade, climate resilience, financing, technology, and health.
Rita Karen, a student attendee inspired by the summit said “I feel very important being a youth, I learned from the Deputy President of Kenya that there is no elevator to success but we should take the steps, and I also learned that hard work without purpose, and discipline cannot fulfill anything”
Problem Identified
One of the problems identified as a stumbling block at the event was the lack of funding. According to the analysis from recent research by the United Nations Development Programs, UNDP, 42% of Young people in Africa don’t have access to the funding needed to run their businesses thereby falling behind in innovation. Sometimes their ideas are stuck in their brains, unable to take their dreams to the market and reach their target customers.
The summit ended with a speech from a top entrepreneur at the event. Entrepreneur Arnold Nyendwa aired his thought on investment in youths, he said “Accelerating investment is all about taking decisive decisions and taking actions on those decisions because when you look at the problems that are affecting Africa, the solutions are there, young people now create feasible solutions but there is no support system for them to actualize”.
