Botswana to host inaugural Africa Youth Entrepreneurship Summit

Botswana will host the inaugural Africa Youth Entrepreneurship Summit aimed at bringing together African entrepreneurs under one roof to share ideas and find ways of fostering partnerships on February 22, 2018.

The one-day summit will be held under the theme ‘Fostering wealth growth in Africa through young entrepreneurs partnerships’. The event will be graced by 12 panellists, three from East Africa, two from Middle East Africa as well as five, who have been listed in Forbes 30 under 30 millionaires.

Speaking to Monitor Business, the mastermind behind the summit Lemogang Senwelo said through the event they seek to empower local entrepreneurs to grow beyond borders and penetrate the international market.

“We want to see African youth working together, fostering partnerships whilst creating wealth in turn. Small Medium Enterprises (SME) are the biggest job creators so if most of these entrepreneurs are equipped with the relevant mentoring and guidance, they can employ a lot of youth,” she said.

To ensure this, Senwelo said they have invited an entrepreneur with experience, Pearl Moagi to teach the participants about personal development as an entrepreneur as well as the necessary basics, which can groom the business to penetrate the international markets.

Further, she said the summit would be hosted in the country for the next two years as they have plans to host it in countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania or Kenya on its fourth year as a way of making an impact in Africa.

“Our intention is to make Botswana an entrepreneurs’ hub because I believe we do have the capacity and potential. My company that is organising this summit Connect Circle is all about building networks and partnerships amongst entrepreneurs across the globe,” she said. According to Senwelo, she started Connect Circle in late 2016 after a series of events where she used to help connect her international business friends on social media with local ones.

“My international connections used to ask me to connect them with businesspeople locally and I did,” she said.

“…and as time went by I realised that I could make money out of this and that was the birth of my company.”

Senwelo, who holds a Degree in Political Science and Public Administration, said after completing her studies, she worked for two months and quit her job to start her business, which she said has not been easy for the last four years.

 

Source: mmegionline

Menu