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BY KWAMBOKA OYARO
It was a bright morning in March 2010, when a group of tech-savvy youths converged at a small hall in Nairobi to discuss innovation and technology. Four young women exchanged phone numbers, clearly excited by plans they shared that would put some of the novel ideas they discussed to good use.
BY MWIKA SIMBEYE
For many young people in Africa, a university degree opens the door to a decent job and a comfortable life. At university, however, not every student will focus on their studies; some often lose concentration as they enjoy a new-found freedom from what they perceive as the overbearing influence of parents or guardians.
Botswana’s Mavis Nduchwa, 33, owns an animal feed farm that grows grains and legumes
BY IHUOMA ATANGA
Run a quick Google search on African women making it in business, and you will rarely find a young woman engaged in rural farming. But Mavis Nduchwa has challenged norms by founding and successfully managing a commercial animal feed farm in Botswana.
BY KINGSLEY IGHOBOR
African governments are confronting unemployment in many different ways. In Senegal, with 200,000 Senegalese joining the labour market each year, President Macky Sall launched a programme in February 2013 to create 30,000 jobs within a year and possibly 300,000 by 2017. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is financing some of Senegal’s self-employment programmes for youth and women.
BY FRANCK KUWONU
When law enforcement officers rounded up a group of political demonstrators in The Gambia’s capital, Banjul, in December 2016, most of those arrested were young people. They were protesting against The Gambia’s then president Yahya Jammeh’s decision to stay in office after having initially conceded defeat to his electoral opponent, Adama Barrow. Under sustained local and international pressure, he finally relinquished power and went into exile.
Two years ago Gakawa Secondary School had no internet access. But thanks to an initiative by Mawingu Networks, a solar-powered internet service provider, rural Kenyan youth are going online for the first time, and with amazing results. High school students like Karue, who didn’t know how to use a keyboard, much less a search engine, are now Googling entry requirements for information technology programmes at Nairobi universities.
BY FATIMATOU SENE
At Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Angela Koranteng was an accomplished student with a special dream. At a time when few women were breaking the gender barrier in male dominated studies, Ms. Koranteng had her heart set on health sciences—but instead of treating patients, she wanted to be an engineer and build hospitals.
BY ELENI MOURDOUKOUTAS
When some 276 teenage girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014, Oby Ezekwesili, a civil society activist and former World Bank vice president, was disheartened by the lacklustre response of her government and local television stations.
