By Abdulfatah Babatunde
Young African entrepreneurs have asked the African Development Bank (AfDB) to expand its support to female entrepreneurs, young innovators and business creators. Such expansion will reduce poverty and tackle the dearth of jobs in Africa.
TheNewsZenith reports that the African youth business representatives were speaking at a panel discussion titled: “Our World, Our Experience”.
The discussion was organised at the launch of the Bank’s 60th anniversary celebrations, on Wednesday, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Jean-François Yao, Regional Policy Advisor in charge of Institutional Partnership at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), praised the Bank’s new approach, which now factors in humanitarian emergencies to development issues.
“The African Development Bank is already doing great things in the humanitarian domain and for a raft of organisations that help to reduce human suffering. “We congratulate them for that,” said Yao.
He reiterated that AfDB’s first action with the ICRC, conducted after the signing of a letter of intent in 2019, had made it possible to launch a pilot project empowering women in the Sahel.
“This project has provided support for vulnerable women and widows affected by the crisis in the Sahel, particularly in Chad, Mali and Niger, and has transformed the lives of numerous people.
“A Malian woman who sold doughnuts received 200,000 CFA francs.
“This enabled her to develop her business, and then to make fruit juice. Today, she works in second-hand clothing.
“She could buy a plot of land and build her own house. She has also been able to send at least three of her six children to a private school,” Yao said.
He expressed satisfaction with the results of this groundbreaking partnership, supported in 2023 by a memorandum of understanding.
“This memorandum has enabled the launch of a humanitarian project in South Sudan that will benefit a million internally displaced people.
“Although the Bank’s and the ICRC’s activities run in parallel, both institutions have found a shared starting point from which they can implement a development-humanitarian nexus.
“They plan to sign a framework agreement soon to strengthen this partnership,” ICRC Advisor said.
In the opinion of the private sector representatives, AfDB’s actions need to be clearer and more visible.
Better still, they said the continental financial institution “must increase and diversify its operations to develop the private sector.”
The private sector, they noted is the principal provider of employment.
Christelle Essim Egue, Lamin Barro and Stéphane Aka-Anghui, who all operate in the Ivorian private sector, shared their experiences of working with AfDB and their vision for the institution over the next decade.
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“Previously, I produced 500 packets of doughnuts a day. Today, I produce 60 packets per minute,” Egue, an Ivorian entrepreneur and founder of Pam Holding, said.
Pam Holding is a firm specialising in the production of doughnuts and natural pepper.
“With the Bank’s support, we are able to create other products,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lamin Barro, an innovator and developer of IT solutions, has previously partnered with AfDB.
Barro, who is the CEO of Etudesk, said his company supports 200 young innovators in Egypt. Etudesk is a start-up specialising in online training,
In Côte d’Ivoire, his start-up helps more than 800 people in the sphere of technological innovation.
This cut across public institutions, local and pan-African companies as well as subsidiaries of multinational corporations.
Praising the AfDB’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab initiative, Barro stressed that the Bank must help young Africans “to create and innovate”.
“One of my dreams is to see an incubator or innovation centre in every university in Côte d’Ivoire, and even in Africa.
“We can promote ‘education entrepreneurship’ i.e. setting up one’s own business while still at university,” he added.
Barro emphasised that Africa must stand up and be counted when it comes to technological developments such as artificial intelligence, blockchains, etc.
On his part, Aka-Anghui said Côte d’Ivoire’s private sector generates 500,000 jobs annually.
Aka-Anghui, Executive Director of the General Confederation of Businesses in Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI), called for a special partnership with AfDB hinged on a shared objective.
The objective is to industrialise Africa, create jobs and promote start-ups and innovation among young people.
“The Ivorian government wants to create eight million jobs by 2030.
“This can only happen if we create a large number of businesses. If we start one million businesses, they can generate 10 million jobs,” he said.
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