And that includes you…
Yes, you!
There is no running away from this, we need to address these issues together.
Today, as a member of Africa’s diaspora, I look back to Africa with a lot of fondness and hope in her future.
I truly believe that Africa will be a developed continent within 30 years and we all are going to make that happen.
This has not always been the case.
In fact, when I migrated from Africa a little over a decade ago, I had little hope in Africa.
However, living and working in one of the most loved cities’ in the Western world has rekindled my belief in Africa.
Having been out of the picture of Africa and in the middle of the picture in Western Europe, I now understand that people are the same everywhere in the world.
And that Africa and Africans have many more opportunities than the rest of the world do not have in the 21st century.
You may be asking the question; then, why is Africa not at par with the rest of the world?
This is the billion-dollar question, and the true answers will make Africans billions of dollars.
My personal answers are;
We as Africans are not doing what is necessary to develop Africa.
We are not thinking BIG for Africa.
We are waiting for other people to do the work necessary to develop our homeland for us.
You may think that these answers are too simplistic and show my naivety into the huge problems facing Africa.
Maybe!
But who will solve those problems?
And how long should we continue to blame everyone else but ourselves?
Now, hold on!
I’m not a politician by any means.
I actually believe that the solutions to Africa’s problems will be solved by everyday people and not by politicians.
By Entrepreneurs!
In a recent podcast interview, one of Africa’s global icons; Akon said;
“Africa is the only place in the world where black people can go and build fortune 500 companies from scratch within five years”
I totally agree with his assessment.
Three decades ago, China, India Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea were 3rd world countries together with the counties in Africa.
Today, almost a billion people of over 2.5 billion population in those countries are in the middle class.
The infrastructure development and the economies of these Asian countries are world class. And the nations are all 1st world countries.
On the other hand, Africa with a population of 1.2 billion people has less than 250 million people in the middle class.
And the infrastructure development and the economies of African country are left struggling in the 19th century.
The world is moving on faster and faster away.
You, yes you, need to act, to help yourself, your community and Africa.
I feel sad when I read or listen to young Africans arguing on social media with little constructive and credible solutions to solve Africa's socio-economic problems.
I see a lot of complaining.
The more we complain and not taking responsibilities, the more African political leaders put our communities deeper in debt and difficulties.
70% of the African population is below the age of 35 years old, yet we have not taken control of our destinies.
We need to stop complaining, our future is right in front of us.
Stop waiting for something MIRACULOUS to happen, for someone to hand us the magic wand that will change everything for us.
It’s already there inside you.
Take it and make it happen!.
We need to embody the change that we are looking for in Africa.
Look around the rest of the world, your generation is running things;
Multibillion-dollar businesses and the most powerful counties are run by young and dynamic leaders.
We need to believe in ourselves that we can also do the same in Africa…
I know many people like myself, with great jobs, earning a lot of money but they are not happy with what they do.
There is something slowly but consistently bugging them to breakout.
I will simply say to these people; the bugging will not stop until you do something about it.
Stop holding yourself down.
Breakout and fulfill your life’s purpose!
Do not wait till you are old to start regretting that you missed these opportunities to help your communities and build your legacy.
You have the gift inside of you.
Africa is waiting for you to unleash your God-given talents.
The world is waiting for you to stand up to be counted.
You can do it.
All the tools you need are readily available to you in the 21st century.
I’ve also met and spoken with many very talented African youths, trapped by overthinking.
They are dealing with self-doubt. They want to know everything before they do anything. They procrastinate endlessly.
Many of them will never do anything.
If this is you, I say STOP!
You don’t need to know everything to take a step towards your dreams.
Don’t let fear and doubt steal your God-given gift.
There is another category of people, who believe that they need loads of money before you can do pursue the dreams.
I say an emphatic NO!
Focus on your God-given talents, your desires and passion will make a way for you.
They are yours for a reason.
If we are BOLD and PASSIONATE and do not let fear and self-doubt to stop us, we will do BIG things for the motherland of all humanity.
I believe that we can make Africa the true envy of the world.
We have everything it takes to make Africa a developed continent in a few decades.
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