| "The future of Africa is up to Africans. For too long many looked to the outside for salvation." ---President Barack Obama at GES, Kenya
US President Barack Obama and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta Africa is not only rising; it is also the most preferred investment destination and is the continent of the fastest growing economies globally. Kenya which is the home of Mobile money transfer technology Mpesa , is especially considered a budding tech hub, with Nairobi ranked among the most connected cities in Africa. DotConnectAfrica delegates attended the Nairobi Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya, which also attracted top investors and leaders of blue chip tech firms including Microsoft, IBM, Google and some members of the Shark Tank Tv program. President Obama noted that "Africa is on the move, Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world" and that "Entrepreneurship offers a positive alternative to the ideologies of violence and division that can all too often fill the void when young people don't see a future for themselves". Weighing on the profound principles of Entrepreneurship, President Obama conveyed:
- Entrepreneurship helps people standup for their rights and push back corruption
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Entrepreneurship means ownership and self determination s opposed to being dependent on somebody else
- Governments are to be facilitating as opposed to being parasitic in entrepreneur efforts
He was also very vocal on supporting girls and women; he noted that they are important agents of development in any society: Here are some of his quotes on women and girls:
- Women are powerhouse entrepreneurs. When women succeed, they invest more in their families and communities.
- Around the world there is a tradition of oppressing women and treating them differently and not giving them the same opportunities, and husbands beating their wives, and children not being sent to school. Those are traditions. Treating women and girls as second-class citizens. Those are bad traditions. They need to change.
- Any nation that fails to educate its girls or employ its women, and allow them to maximize their potential, its doomed to fall behind the global economy,
- We are in a sport centre and imagine you have a team and you don't let half of the team play? That is stupid.", "If half of your team is not playing, you have a problem. In many countries, half of the the team is women and youth.
Speaking at the Summit, President Uhuru Kenyatta who was the Co-host of the GES 2015 Kenya Summit said that Africa is open and ready for business. He added that
"Africa is the world's newest and most promising frontier of limitless opportunity" . On the youth he said
"As large parts of the world age, Africa grows younger by the day. The youthful sons and daughters of Africa are our incredible resource"
Most recently, DCA Trust's delegates also attended the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, a Precursor to Kenya (#GES2015) in San Francisco, featured as "African Entrepreneurs
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Sophia Bekele with GES2015 Delegates and Speakers/Entrepreneurs, San Francisco
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& Silicon Valley Forum: 'Bridging Gaps and Making Connections", organized by the White House State Department and USAID on 8th July 2015. Sophia Bekele, who was invited to address the forum as part of the "African Diaspora Leaders" spoke on the future of Africa, saying
"more people look out for the "American Dream" but I believe now we should be looking forward to building the #BuildAfricaDream and put that in the DNA of all the students who get an opportunity to study here."
DotConnectAfrica through its various initiatives such as Generation.Africa, Miss.Africa, DCA Academy, DotAfrica.TV and DotAfrica.Mobi welcomes these messages that offer as a catalyst to Africa's growing youth population that is innovative and creative. Africa is the continent with the youngest population at its disposal and with these DotConnectAfrica is ready to launch into a better tomorrow. |
