Nigerian entrepreneur from WYF: Africa still has to do more to leverage youth

CAIRO – 5 November 2018: Akpem Shadrach is a Nigerian entrepreneur providing veterinary care and animal farming tips to his clients. He was selected to participate at the World Youth Forum (WYF) this year to share his insights on leveraging youth.

Shadrach’s approach of addressing challenges facing African youth revolved on unemployment and poverty. Like many entrepreneurs, Shadrach’s major challenge remains funding. As he trains young people on modern animal husbandry practices, the Nigerian veterinary doctor is looking forward to partnerships financing trainees to set up their enterprises afterwards.

In an interview with Egypt Today via email, Shadrach said he submitted an abstract on leveraging youth to the forum, where he shares his vision on systematic and sustainable empowerment of human capital.


Nigerian entrepreneur Shadrach Akpem during his participation during second edition of World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh - Courtesy of Akpem

“Despite our youthful population, a lot hasn't been done with respect to deliberately empowering the African youths, and this is dangerous,” he said.

He went on explaining the mechanism he proposed, stating, “Structured programs must focus on building the capacity of young people and also support them with a favorable environment to express themselves. The truth is that no government can cater to the market’s entire job needs, but it can behold the environment to create a favorable system for citizens to thrive.”

Shadrach said China and India are good examples of countries that effectively maximized their youth power formally and informally, adding that this is reflected in their productivity.

In a morning session at the WYF, high-profile delegates from Africa and Europe shared their remarks on furthering cooperation between both continents, highlighting Egypt’s integral role in bridging relations and building sustainable ties. Earlier this year, Egypt was elected for a one-year term to chair the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2019.

For his approach, Shadrach further encouraged African states to follow others’ steps regarding youth empowerment, and praised Egypt’s “respect to the role of youths in making African great, hence the will to put together such a great forum of global youth.”

“Coming here, I must say that I am truly impressed with the level of organization put into actualizing this forum. Bringing over 5000 people from all over the world together for over a week is a big deal, but I must say the organization did a flawless job by any standards,” he commented.

Shadrach further expressed his enthusiasm to have had the opportunity to connect with people who are passionate about his work in areas of human resource development, although he has yet to find any participant of his background.

The CEO of Mobovet Enterprise, Shadrach is working on setting up an integrated
animal farm in Nigeria, in addition to his work as a youth persons’ trainer. Shadrach previously cooperated with different initiatives like the U-Report program under UNICEF, where he gets rural dwellers to engage on the platform to address social issues.

The World Youth Forum is taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh over the course of four days during November 3-6.