‘Too many suits, too few women’
It’s time for young Africans to take charge, say WEF delegates
AS LOUD calls for inclusive growth for Africans rang through the corridors of the World Economic Forum in Durban this week, young people demanded a seat at the table and complained there were “too many suits” at such events.
The 27th WEF on Africa was held under the theme “Achieving Inclusive Growth through Responsive and Responsible Leadership”.
Pickets were held outside the Durban ICC on Wednesday by the People’s Economic Forum group, who were carrying posters with slogans such as “world economic fraud”.
But inside, there were young African leaders who were among a small percentage of youth who attended.
Among them was Aisha Pandor, 32, who scooped the top female technology entrepreneur award for her Uber-like domestic cleaning app, Sweep South.
“It’s been good to see heads of state and big global companies have come to the forum to foster relations with other entrepreneurs and this focus on promoting Africa is great,” Pandor said.
“It’s exciting that there is a focus on digital and technology and how that can be used to improve the lives of civil society and the role young people can play in being part of that.
“I’ve been impressed seeing how many young people there are walking around, but there are still too many suits and not enough women.
“But it’s been encouraging to see the change so far and the attention directed towards young women and women using technology.”
On the state of South Africa, Pandor said people speaking out and having their voices heard was “healthy”.
She said there should be more young people in governments.
“South Africa is a democracy and we are fortunate to be at a point where in a democratic way, people are using their right to speak about things they may be unhappy with and be able to challenge government on issues they feel aren’t being attended to.
“I feel encouraged by the role young people are taking in speaking out. And that the marches about things they are unhappy with have happened across colour and socio-economic divides. It’s a natural part of a new democracy.
“We need to use our voices to challenge and I think it’s healthy that we do that… What I would like to see is more young South Africans being directly involved in government, in civil organisations that are able to directly challenge government.
“I think we’re doing a lot of things as youth but I think we don’t always step up or are given the platform to be part of conversations that happen at those higher levels. But I think it’s up to us to take those roles.”
Durban-born Amanda Mathe, 28, is the managing director of Ndlovukazi Online Media and a member of the local global shapers.
Mathe asked President Jacob Zuma, who was also part of the forum, how the government was addressing the question of ambitious young managers who had the will to lead as chief executives and managers, but ultimately did not have the requisite leadership skills.
Responding, Zuma said that the government had skilled youth in the ministry, business, labour and civil society, but conceded that there was a need to reskill.
“There is a realisation that without skills it will be difficult to grow the economy… In the past we were not skilled to deal with broader employment, we are dealing with it now,” said Zuma.
Mathe said a dialogue was needed between the elders and the youth. “There were not enough young minds that are transformative, that are revolutionary. A platform like this needs to be more welcoming to young people. We didn’t get a chance to sit in on enough of the sessions to say ABCDEF… We are still yet to follow up on the discussions (policy) post-wef, and we need more women on these platforms in this space,” she said.
Mozambican global shaper Daudo Vali said he was expecting more urgency from the leaders.
“We can speed up the decision-making processes because usually there is a lot of talk around governments and when it comes to implementation it is totally different,” he said.
Vali said education and upskilling people were Africa’s biggest priorities. “We need purposeful education and the upskilling of the workers,” he said.
“We have young people who are extremely passionate about the continent who want to leave here; a lot of people are leaving and if we leave no one will solve our problems, so we need to stay regardless of the challenges we have.
“We want to achieve extraordinary things, so if we want to excel in extraordinary things we must expect extraordinary challenges,” he said.