@AfDB_Group #AfDBAM2018 afdb.org/am AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP ANNUAL MEETINGS BULLETIN - MAY 22, 2018
Why Africa must trust and support its youth to creatively drive its industrialization any young Africans are coming up with innovative solutions to the continent’s problems and should be trusted and supported to drive continent’s industrialization, participants at the 2018 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank heard in Busan.
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How to leverage the continent’s youth to accelerate economic prosperity through industrialization was the focus of a session on “Bridging innovation and industry: African youth solving continental challenges.” The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, set the tone of discussions as by
highlighting how young people across the continent are generating new industries. “Young people are not just the future of Africa, they are the present. They represent entrepreneurship and energy. This must be nurtured, harnessed and scaled-up to propel Africa’s industrial revolution and the Bank is here to harness that,” he said. Badr Idrissi, a young Moroccan industrialist, co-founded ATLAN Space, a start-up that uses artificial intelligence and drone technology to solve some socio- economic problems. The innovation has helped Morocco to effectively fight illegal fishing.
“They say that artificial intelligence is not meant for Africa. We are here to prove that wrong,” Idrissi told participants at the session.
created thousands of sustainable jobs for people in marginalized communities, in addition to conserving the environment.
Idrissi used his 12 years of international working at Microsoft and Nokia to provide tech solutions, which in turn have created employment for several young Moroccans.
“I was inspired by what I thought was going wrong in my community. Trees were being cut down and plastic waste was all over the place,” Rutto told the session. “It was very scary for me to resign a
IN THIS EDITION
In Kenya, a young banker, Lorna Rutto, quit her job to co-found EcoPost, a social enterprise that has
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Empowering West Africa’s cocoa producers p. 9
Guest of the Day: Stella Kilonzo, Senior Director, Africa Investment Forum p. 6
In Focus: Desert-to-Power, powering the Sahel through innovative financing p. 10
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To be continued on p. 3
Innovative technologies need to reach African farmers for agricultural transformation to happen or Africa to witness true agricultural transformation, technoloF gies need to reach farmers to
trialization infrastructure for the continent.
enhance productivity. This was part of the outcomes of the Leadership4Agriculture Forum held at the 53rd Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank taking place in Busan, Korea from May 21-25.
Speaking at the session, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, said the transformation of the agriculture sector into a US $1-trillion sector remains a key priority of the Bank.
Participants included Ministers and key partners involved in the development of agriculture indus-
“The leadership of agriculture is crucial. We cannot say we have leadership when we still have 65 To be continued on p. 3
Busan Bulletin printed on recycled paper - May 22, 2018
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