The ongoing Forbes Under 30 Summit has been welcomed with a loud cheer with President Mokgweetsi Masisi urging the youth of the world to network on entrepreneurship, business management skills, financial planning, and contract management in business transactions and mentorship.
When officially opening the Summit yesterday, Masisi said it will among others, open doors for them in the global markets. “You will be agreeable, that anyone with the rare privilege of being touched by the watershed experience of Forbes Under 30 Summit cannot remain the same old self. It indeed disrupts the old adage that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. I am very optimistic that you game-changer delegates will have a watershed experience of a lifetime from your participation in this market place of ideas.”
Masisi who was accompanied by his wife, MmaAtsile and some Ministers, thanked the mentors and business coaches, corporate entities for their investment in equipping the youth with the right knowledge, skills and professional attitudes that would make them successful entrepreneurs.
“As a matter of fact, the imperative to survive by having the ability to meet our basic needs, to self-actualize, and to live in peace, with dignity and justice accorded to all, requires that we make proper diagnosis of our existential challenges, and make the right choices and decisions regarding how to solve them on a sustainable basis.”
He said that they were alive to the fact that Governments alone cannot solve all of these problems and challenges and that is where the youth come in with their impactful innovations, ideas, disruptions and activism. “This is one of the ways, through digitisation, to harness the youth dividend as you create employment for yourselves.”
The president added that the Forbes Under 30 Africa Summit is very instrumental in assisting the youth of the world to become the torch bearers and change agents of development through their entrepreneurship.
He said that the platform shows the power of hope in young generations.
Masisi further reiterated Botswana’s commitment to promoting citizen participation in economic development; and the youth being the change agents and future leaders are continuously encouraged to play a leading role through various funding mechanisms from public and private sources.
The President mentioned that they have also embarked upon digitisation as the epicentre of the national development agenda.
“The young people are being empowered through several initiatives which will go a long way in ensuring that they contribute meaningfully to the economic development of this country. As the youth, your resilience and the kilted readiness to #AcceptTheChallenge of being entrusted with not just fulfilling your own potentials and ambitions, but to also ensure that the world is fit for future generations is “the new Silk Road”.
He urged the youth to go on and inspire their peers to also take risks; build and develop the absorption capacity necessary to retain and deploy investments into one another.
The Forbes Under 30 Summit is the first ever to be held in Africa, and hosted by Botswana and has brought together some of the finest in the world of entrepreneurship, with 200 from Botswana, another 200 from the rest of Africa and the last 200 from the rest of the world.
