THE FUTURE OF TRADE & INDUSTRIALIZATION

Kwame is a tech entrepreneur, web developer, TV host, public speaker, and consultant with over ten years of experience in Ghana's tech industry, spanning multiple roles from entry to executive levels. He is passionate about using technology to drive positive change across the African continent, as well as giving young people opportunities to make an impact through skills training and mentorships across the continent. He is the Founder and President of Techstripped Africa (www.techstripped.com), a tech influence network and accelerator that helps teach students identify their leadership potentials and develop entrepreneurial skills in order to curb youth unemployment and lack of leadership in Africa.

Kwame is also the General Manager of Virdge, an event technology firm that provides end-to-end technology solutions (www.v-access.io) for events across the African continent. Kwame completed his senior high school education at Prempeh College before enrolling at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to study Environmental Science. He is a 2021 Mandela Washington Fellow, where he studied Leadership in Business at the Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management and further continued for the Alumni Enrichment Institute at Dartmouth College in 2022.

Hear now his voice and views through the next set of questions posed to him during our interview.

World Bank statistics show that Africa is facing a rising youth unemployment rate, in your opinion what role can/ should African youth play to offset this trend?

Young people need to grab the bull by the horns and stop relying on governments to provide them with employment, and instead start looking out for themselves in the correct manner. According to John C. Maxwell, "Everything rises and falls on leadership," and it is clear that the majority of African leaders have failed this generation. As a result, young people need to start reflecting deeply, figuring out their potential and purposes, and starting working on them. We need to stop hunting for employment and start performing the work that has been planted inside us so that we can flourish and find fulfilment.

Inside every seed is a tree, and inside every tree is a forest, so whether it is entrepreneurship, developing specific skills or gifts, content creation, social work, etc., young people need to find what makes them tick, explore it to the max and I can bet the world will come to their feet and success will be inevitable. There are two scriptures in the bible that guide me in all I do, and I believe should be the guiding principles for every young person. 1. Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” 2. Proverbs 18:16 “A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.” Posterity is counting on us as young people and we can’t fail, we need to own our narrative, create opportunities where there isn’t any, sacrifice certain momentary pleasures and make sure we create the jobs that we are looking for so that future youth will not be found wanting like us.

The digital economy is acknowledged as a driver of crossborder trade, is the African continent investing enough into the fourth Industrial revolution and if not what more can be done?

I feel we are trying but it’s not enough. At the pace where the global giants in tech and innovation are moving, we need to work overtime as a continent in order to catchup. But unfortunately, most of our leaders are still stuck in their old ways and refusing to adapt to the times. I believe young people can force the continent to grow toward a better digital economy. We need to learn, learn, and learn to build, adopt, and use technologies, and while we use them, we need to be innovative enough to build our own platforms that are tailored to our needs for maximum benefit.

I interviewed the father of internet in Africa earlier this year and he said when he was introducing internet on the continent, he wanted people who were willing to learn to build platforms and products that will cause us to grow on the digital front, but we rather chose to be users of what others are building and not builders ourselves, that is why we are lagging behind.

Governments need to invest in technology education, offer scholarships to young people to go to advanced countries to learn and come to implement the knowledge gained. Governments do not have to overly place restrictions and expensive licences on young people/ ventures building products across various sectors of the economy. If they are not given a chance to build and make manageable mistakes, the right tech products or solutions will never be built and we would have to always rely on western solutions.