On 15 April 2019, educators, investors, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders from across Africa gathered for the inaugural Very Young Entrepreneur Education & Acceleration Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The 1-day conference is a new initiative from the Anzisha Prize and made possible by Mastercard Foundation.
- Everyone agrees that entrepreneurship can drive job creation, but if there aren’t enough jobs to start with, what does the transition from a high school and university directly into entrepreneurship look like?
- What kind of experience, skills and support are required to be successful at a very young age?
- How do we encourage the most talented of our young people to pursue this path rather than other careers?
This ground-breaking event explored excellence in entrepreneurship education and celebrates approaches to supporting very young African entrepreneurs (15 to 25-year-olds).
This year’s THEME – “AGE MATTERS” was carried throughout the day, exploring why AGE MATTERS when investing, parenting, teaching and accelerating very young entrepreneurs.
A packed schedule allowed anyone interested in the education, start-up or enterprise development sectors to gain perspectives from those who are on the ground doing this important work to transform our economies.
Many of these speakers were also nominees for the 2019 Anzisha Prize Supporters Awards – which were presented at the Summit – recognizing their significant support for VERY YOUNG entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in Africa over the past year.
The impressive line-up of panelists included:
- Elizabeth Blintiff (Ghana, CEO of Junior Achievement Africa)
- Ekow Mensah (Ghana, CEO of The African Network of Entrepreneurs)
- Carolyne Ekyarisiima (Tanzania, Founder of Apps and Girls)
- Aaron Fu (Kenya, Managing Director at MEST)
- Adnane Addioui (Morocco, Co-Founder of Moroccan Centre for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship)
- Clinton Liederman (South Africa, Head of Innovation at RLabs)
- Kwami Justina Morris (Ghana, Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness Educator at Ashesi University)
- Koffi Assouan (Canada, Program Manager, Mastercard Foundation)
- Yinka Adegoke (US, Editor at Quartz Africa)
- Sawa Nakagawa (South Africa, Founder of ThreeArrows Impact Partners)
- Eric Osiakwan (Ghana, Co-founder of Angel Fair Africa & Managing Partner at Chanzo Capital)
New resources, innovations and tools were also launched:
- The Anzisha Scenarios. What does Africa look like in the future if young Africans of high potential choose entrepreneurship as a career. Download the Green paper.
- AllXS EcoSim – A safe, cashless economy platform for school and university entrepreneurship programs
- Parenting the Boss – A guide to raising and supporting young African entrepreneurs for parents, by parents.
- The Very Young Entrepreneurs Fund – A new USD $500k matching fund concept for graduates of entrepreneur education institutions.
- E-book Series Launch: How to Kickstart an Entrepreneurship-as-Learning Economy in Schools
- Young Entrepreneurs Supporters Awards – Celebrating the game changers in the very young entrepreneurs’ ecosystem
It is our hope that this will become a premier gathering and platform for parents, teachers, investors and policy-makers defining the entrepreneurship ecosystem for under-25’s in Africa.
