A platform to grab business opportunities in Africa

I recently got back to Mauritius after having spent seven weeks in the USA. I spent six weeks on a Business and Entrepreneurship Executive course at Yale University, as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, and which culminated in a three-day summit with President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, John Kerry and Susan Rice, where I was also awarded the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

When I reflect back on the seven weeks spent in the USA and especially spent with other Africans, I realise that it has enabled me to see that the new Africa which is being built is definitely on the good track with these young leaders on board. They are definitely qualified, expe-rienced, outspoken and I will call them ‘leaders in the making’.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is an initiative by the Barack Obama administration to help the USA build bridges within Africa and to equip and support young leaders who have the potential to strike change in their countries. Out of 50,000 applications, only 500 offers were made for 2014 where the 500 Africans spent six weeks spread out in 20 universities in the USA. The different tracks are public management, civic leadership and business and entrepreneurship.

The program is run every year and it is expected that 750 Africans from 25-35 years old will be taken on board on the same program next year. The process is a rigorous one which starts at the end of this year, where you apply online and you have to choose a track to apply for which might be public management, civic leadership and business and entrepreneurship. The first selection is run in Washington DC and is followed by face-to-face interviews at the US Embassy in February. The final selection is made by Washington and the outcome of the application is known in April.

The experience is definitely life changing as you go through business lectures that are not necessarily covered in an MBA. They range from strong leadership sessions, the meaning of social entrepreneurship, how to start and structure your business, financial, economics, agriculture, social media, branding and marketing for entrepreneurs and how to make your business sustainable. These lectures were imparted by Yale lecturers, visiting lecturers who were well-known entrepreneurs and we also have access to a network of venture capitalists to expand our business.

Why is it enriching for an entrepreneur? Because it helps you remove the blinkers you usually have as an entrepreneur when you run your business on a day-to-day basis. You go through various technicalities of running a business, you gain introspection on how to be a better entrepreneur, employer and leader, it enables you to identify what improvements you need to bring to your business model, to understand the realities of the African market and it helps you identify concepts such as lean start-ups and weekend bootstrapping.

The best part is that you also get to network within Africa while being out of Africa. You learn about the different business opportunities that are present on the African continent.  The network you are exposed to would have normally taken ten years to build in a real life. This program provides an accelerating platform which can also help you gain access to new markets and diversify your products and services.

It also helps you meet like-minded entrepreneurs who may help you prosper together. For example, after 7 weeks, the 24 entrepreneurs and I who were at Yale have formed a company called Africa 2010 and which is originally based in Ghana. This company will help in mentoring and advising young entrepreneurs and hoping to help over 20,000 entrepreneurs over the next ten years, which explains the name initially.

We also had to prepare a five-minute group presentation which would be forwarded to the summit with the heads of State in Africa and to President Obama and his team. We had to identify a common problem present in our 16 countries and provide with a solution. We identified youth unemployment as a raging problem and our solution was to promote innovation hubs which will provide the right infrastructure and facilities to promote social entrepreneurship to combat this issue.

I will encourage all young people who are entrepreneurs from 25-35 and who can identify their tracks as ranging from business and entrepreneurship to apply for this program this year. It will be a long road, it will be tough but believe in yourself and it will end up in a lifetime opportunity which will be very challenging and motivating at the end.