Prominently reputed for empowering young entrepreneurs across Africa through business funding, access to angel investors, mentorship, access to the market, business equipment, and training amongst other things; Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs, the largest entrepreneurial network in the world has again taken the front seat in leading the charge to liberate African entrepreneurs by introducing a core mission geared towards promoting intellectual capital and quotients among African entrepreneurs. Given its robust interactions and engagements with African Young entrepreneurs across the continent through its various platforms, particularly AYEEN (Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs Empowerment Nigeria), the organization has identified that despite the huge grants consistently churned out to beneficiaries, the rising menace of knowledge deficiency represents a major setback in realizing the incredible potentials required for Africa’s prosperity and global prominence.
It is against this background that Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs on the 1st of May 2019, launched Mission 1 Million Entrepreneurs (M1ME), a flagship training and development initiative, valued at USD180 per applicant summing the total amount of USD180 million upon completion of the initiative was strategically introduced to intellectually equip and provide knowledge driven support systems to One million African entrepreneurs for the ultimate good of the continent. Solely funded by the Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs, the initiative is set to run for the next 7 years and will be completed in 2025. Speaking with the Press Secretary of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs, Barr. Nwabuzor, Fumnanya Daniel, he stated that “the initiative is in line with key integral elements of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal and is eminently poised to address the crucial subject of human capital deficit which has plagued the continent for years and stifled its economic projections.” He stated that “the M1ME initiative has been in the works for the past two years and has been subjected to extensive research and global consultations.” He finally stated that “the initiative which was approved by the Board of the Organization in April, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa, will be piloted in five countries namely Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda.”
According to the A.Y.E President, Mr. Summy Smart Francis, he stated “given the ambitions of African countries on moving towards knowledge-based economies, the introduction of this initiative is supremely timely. The African continent is decades behind in admirably competing with emerging economies across the world. There is indeed no better time than now in promoting knowledge amongst African entrepreneurs to reverse Africa’s knowledge deficit and failures on the huge potential that can be realised for rapid industrialization.”
Mr. President also stated that “the training unites the undisputed African entrepreneurial drive, innovation and the missing piece, the requisite knowledge which will ultimately have substantial poverty mitigation and sustainable development implications.” Mr. Summy Smart Francis also stated that “with the current population of Nigeria, recently released by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimated at 201 million, this staggering exponential population growth comes with dire repercussions if premium and strategic attention is not afforded to human capital development among entrepreneurs who are the drivers of the economy.” He further emphasized on the significant roles of Non-governmental bodies and the private sector in providing support systems to the Government in combating the monstrous challenges of poverty, poor education, infrastructural and human capital deficit among others.
The most notable examples of countries in the world that have effectively utilized its population surge with a corresponding human capital development are the Asian Tigers (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Singapore, as a case study was a poverty stricken nation, with rapid population at independence. However, with strategic and deliberate policies prioritizing human capital in its strategic economic plans and integrating the educational system properly to meet industrial standards, Singapore has become an economic powerhouse in world economies. In 2017, the World Economic Forum’s Global Human Capital index ranked Singapore, an economy with about 5.6 Million people, 11thout of 130 countries while Nigeria, with a population of about 193 million at that time, was ranked 114th. Nigeria was ranked 122ndand 124th respectively in development and know-how sub –indices. Indeed, the role played by human capital development cannot be over stated and this program initiated by Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs represents the perfect recipe for the African economic situation.
It was also gathered that the registration for the Mission 1 Million Entrepreneurs initiative will be free but applicants are to apply online through the portal www.ayeonline.org/m1me and successful applicants will be trained and issued certifications on entrepreneurship development. Above all, the role of Knowledge economy in sustainable development is an indispensable dimension in the 21st century, especially to the African continent that has been witnessing a declining Knowledge economy potential.
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