IHAV (I Have A Vision for Africa) was the brainchild of Ms.
Christabel Ofori, who felt that she had what it takes to transform not just
Ghana but Africa as a whole.
What started out as a mere idea in 2012 has grown into a
foundation full of passionate young Africans who know that they can transform
the economies of Africa.
“You have everything you need to be successful, with focus, commitment, determination and the right attitude.” These were the words of one Mrs. Eva Lokko, a Ghanaian stateswoman and the opening speaker of the IHAV 2014 conference.
Over the four day conference, we the participants had the privilege of learning from several African leaders who have a deep passion for the youth of Africa and who truly believe in our capabilities.
The theme of the conference this year was “Creating an
Agribusiness revolution with African youth”, and the youth were definitely
there. Hailing from the Gambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Botswana,
Guinea Conakry and from Ghana herself; the face of Africa was clearly
represented.
Aside from gaining momentous insights from our speakers, we also learned plenty from each other as participants and volunteers in the program. The blending of different cultures from the west, east, central and southern parts of Africa exposed us to the massive well of gifts and talents that we the African youth possess. Networking and coming together as a think tank for Agribusiness in Africa birthed many incredible ideas and projects, some of which are already being prepared for implementation. Best of all, we cemented friendships that will serve us well as we work together and present the united face of Africa.
During the conference we discovered that Agriculture in this continent is potentially a great booster to economic growth, and as such; some of the questions we endeavored to answer were:
- How do we increase awareness of agriculture’s benefits to African youth?
- What kind of resources do we have in tackling agribusiness?
- How do we the youth help farmers increase their yields and productivity using modern tools such as ICT, Media, modern equipment and the like?
- What methods can we use to show the youth that agriculture and agribusiness is a great form of self-employment and profitability?
With the help of our speakers, we were able to direct our
focus to answering those and many other questions, and we realized that the
first thing we would need as youth is a change in attitude as to how we
perceive agriculture and agribusiness, next we found out that we would need to
inform ourselves, do research, know how to write professional proposals and
business plans and also the benefits of planting organic foods over Genetically
modified versions and how we can increase productivity of the same.
In line with the things we learnt we also toured a number of Ghanaian companies concerned with agribusiness promotion, such as ESOKO which is a company which uses a mobile platform to educate and support farmers by linking them with markets for their goods. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that ESOKO has offices in Kenya as well. We also toured Jekora Ventures Waste Management Services who are into waste management and manufacturing of organic fertilizers, Cottage Italia Industries and a large scale experiment farm which serves to educate on how to grow certain crops, raise animals such as pigs and rabbits and even how o manage a fish pond. It was a truly mind opening experience.
To conclude, I will say agribusiness is an opportunity for
Africa’s youth to take up the challenge and improve one of Africa’s oldest
economic activities and revolutionizing it to become the giant sector it is
meant to be. We have brains, we have hands and we have each other, let’s get to
work!
By Jeanne Kiyiape
IHAV PROJECT CONFERENCE 2014 PARTICIPANT
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