The Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Initiative in collaboration with Brand South Africa will be bringing another chapter of this year’s Africa Youth Summit.
Brand South Africa’s Ntombi Ntanzi had a quick Q&A session with Founder of Breaking Down Borders Africa Initiative Paul Modjadji on its 2018 Summit.
Ntombi Ntanzi(NN): What is the Breaking Down Borders Africa Initiative about?
Paul Modjadji(PM): The Breaking Down Borders Africa Initiative is a Pan-African platform that seeks to unite young African change makers. By creating platforms for these young leaders to act in concert. It hopes to break down the barriers that prevent collaborations among young African social and commercial entrepreneurs across the continent.
This was born out of the realization, made during the inaugural Breaking Down Borders Africa Tour, that there was a desire to trade on ideas, methods and initiatives among young Africans, but there was bureaucracy that prevented this. The result was the Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Summit which is a think tank and networking platform like no other – targeted at young leaders and curated by young leaders, all from Africa.
NN: What opportunities are there for young people participating in the initiative?
PM: The summit is a networking and solutions gathering platform that targets young people from the continent, even if they don’t currently live on the continent. We link these young people with established thinkers in various industries (commerce, academia, politics, etc) who can assist in elevating them and their work efforts;
The objective of the summit is to empower young entrepreneurs, be they social or commercial entrepreneurs, to take their work to the next level and start trading from ideas and materials across the continent. We also highlight to the wider community, the issues faced by young Africans and the possible solutions to these issues as envisaged by these young Africans;
NN: How has the initiative been received?
PM: The reception has been positive from the youth who have taken part in the inaugural Summit and those who have indicated interest in the second edition. There has been support from both government and the general public who fall outside the target market. Most of these people and institutions recognize the need for this platform and that’s why they support it.
NN: What is the initiative all about in 2018?
PM: In line with the theme for the Nelson Mandela centenary, the theme for 2018 Breaking Down Borders Africa Youth Summit is “African Youth: Building our legacy” – and this year is about creating a platform where we work towards a lasting legacy as young people.
This year the Summit wishes to result in a document that can inform policy which may be adopted by the AU and various signatory governments. This we believe is our own legacy as a platform.
NN: How do people sign up and participate?
PM: To sign up, people must visit our website www.breakingdownbordersafrica.com
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