A young Malian engineer in agribusiness and winner of the international program “Entrepreneurs in Africa” ​​was the French-speaking ceremonial master of YALESI 2016 in Dakar from March 29 to April 1, 2016 at the KING FAHD PALACE HOTEL, a summit with an international dimension on innovation, youth agribusiness, leadership and entrepreneurship.
The YALESI “Youth Agribusiness, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship Summit on Innovation” in French the summit of Youth Innovation on Agribusiness, Entrepreneurship and Leadership has honored Aïssata a young Malian like no other who is passionate and very committed to the development of the agro-food sector in West Africa.

Aïssata’s declaration,

I’m with great emotion when I speak about YALESI 2016, this summit brought me a lot because all of the organizers of this international summit, namely the GYIN network: the Global Youth Innovation Network; IFAD: the United Nations development fund, the government of Senegal through the Ministry of Youth and Citizen Building of Senegal and USA: Arizona State University gave me all their trust by nominating me as the French-speaking mistress of ceremonies “MC”. Thus, I animated the 3 days of work of YALESI with a great Ethiopian journalist who hosts TV shows in the USA on development issues with which we will set up several projects to motivate young people to undertake in the agricultural sector in Africa.

It was very rich to introduce and discuss with the 60 panelists made up of experts, entrepreneurs, institutions, politicians… .. And, to listen to the 300 passionate participants who were fighting to give their opinions every day… .. BELIEVE ME AFRICA IS FULL OF TALENT!

In addition to the role of Francophone MC, on the last day of the summit, I was Youth Keynote Speaker in the panel on promoting and promoting the local “Going Local”. I exposed a presentation by a testimony on the role of women in the promotion of projects in the food industry in West Africa.

The main theme of the Summit was “The capacities of young people to create jobs and reduce hunger”. Throughout the summit, various international corporations and institutions led workshops and discussion sessions, as well as Arizona State University and other academic and / or business partners on: Agrobusiness, Leadership, l ‘Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Sustainable Agriculture and Agri-Food. There was one theme per day focused on a specific sub-theme which was:
The first day on Youth Innovation to reduce Hunger
The second day on Youth Innovation to Create Jobs
The third day on Youth Innovation to Build Local Communities The Summit will have a high-level interactive format.

Why this summit?

The economic crisis has negatively affected two key sectors related to the sustainable development of young people around the world: employment and hunger. Young people around the world, who represent a total of half the population of the planet, feel the impact of the crisis at the same time as they face the many challenges in the quest for decent work for food. , to access credit in order to start a business. 85% of the juvenile population live in developing countries or in emerging economies. What a paradox when you consider that a large part of these young people have a vision, ideas and immense potential capable of providing them with employment and food security. To help young people create jobs, fight hunger and transform local economies, more banking institutions need to make adequate financial services available to young people. A large number of industries must train their workforce in the labor markets, present and future. More institutions need to integrate into the agro-industry and mentor potential entrepreneurs, and a large number of governments must encourage innovations and the enthusiasm of young people.

Indeed, in an attempt to answer these questions, the Global Youth Innovation Network launched its second World Youth Summit, which it called YALESI.
In this context, the YALESI 2016, brought together representatives from several countries from all continents (around 50 countries), equipping them to learn and share the way young women and men. Its aim is to strengthen the capacities of young people to fight hunger, create jobs and develop sustainable communities in the 100 countries where GYIN works, by converting them into Hunger Fighters, Job Creators, Innovators and as Agents of Change.

For information, the YALESI2016 reached more than 4 million people over 3 days worldwide on social networks.
A word from the president of the GYIN network, Mr. Pape SAMB, who founded YALESI,

The aim of the summit is to strengthen the capacities of young people to fight hunger, create jobs and develop sustainable communities in the 100 countries where GYIN works, by converting them into Hunger Fighters, Job Creators, Innovators and Agents of Change.
The Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (FIDA), in partnership with the Government of Senegal and Arizona State University’s EmPeace LABS Project. GYIN seeks to develop sustainable, scalable, and profitable evidence-based agribusiness, entrepreneurship and leadership programs and policies. The objective is to attack the causes of youth unemployment at the source, while increasing the employment opportunities of young people and / or to start a productive business. Building Peace for Leadership in Agribusiness and Sustainability (EmPeace LABS) is a global project aimed at supporting the next generation of agribusiness leaders from developing countries. This project uses the “train the trainer” model to teach young people the concept and methods of responsible leadership in business and agro-cultural practices over time.

 

 

 

Why all of her commitments in the fight against hunger and in the development of the agricultural and agrifood sector in West Africa as a young woman?

I draw my strength from my origins, I was born in a very agricultural region (Sévaré-Mopti) where my childhood was rocked by agricultural and cultural diversity in the heart of Mali. It is the only region of this large country in sub-Saharan Africa which inhabits all ethnic groups in Mali who live between cultural and agricultural sharing. In addition, my parents were always involved in the agricultural sector and from the age of 10, I wondered about canned food that invaded the local market. I just followed my passion which is agriculture and the food industry by doing my higher studies in the food industry in France.

And, my specialization in agribusiness came as a result of the missions I carried out for a French agrifood company during my license in logistic quality of food products as research and development and marketing manager where I then understood and implemented marketing, communications and product innovation strategies.

For me, hunger is an injustice because with us in Africa unlike other continents, we always invite the next to come to eat and I always have a very bad heart to read the figures of FAO, AFD, IFAD , the World Bank… who tell us that hunger, famine and malnutrition kill innocent people in West Africa. We had great agricultural potential and dynamic young people looking for prospects. We must enhance our local productions through the development of the food industry, the organization of the agricultural value chain, processing, innovation in the marketing mix, standardization and marketing of finished products on the local and international market.

Unfortunately, multinational food companies such as NESTLE with Nido or Jumbo, the BEL group with the laughing cow, Unilever…. manage to sell their low-end products on our local markets at the expense of our local quality products which are very rich in vitamin but devalued.

Have your last word?

I thank all the organizers of this summit for their trust: the GYIN network; IFAD; The government of Senegal through the Ministry of Youth and Citizen Building of Senegal and the USA as well as all participants. I participated in several international summits and symposia but the YALISI was different because there was something concrete, for example IFAD officials attended all the works and they financed several youth projects that the banks had refused to finance. ‘to accompany. As I announced on social media via my accounts: I came to DAKAR to participate in this summit and accomplish my missions, but I am leaving with a big family and full of hopes for Africa.

 

On the other hand, I invite the Malian and West African authorities to give the chance and to listen to young talented entrepreneurs, because the projects they carry are above all for the country and they are key actors for socio-economic and environmental development because it is the private sector that creates jobs. Unfortunately, despite the awards and recognition they have internationally, French-speaking countries including Mali give very little prospects to its young people.

The difference between French-speaking and English-speaking Africa is due to this lack of support and recognition from French-speaking officials. Finally, optimistic by nature, I believe in Africa and in young Africans and I invite all young people to do business in the agricultural sector because it is the future and we are responsible for our present and our future.

Long live Agriculture, Agri-food, Youth Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Together Let us Struggle Against Hunger because Hunger is an Injustice.

Source: Malinet.net

About The Author

CEO AfrikaTech

Comme beaucoup de personnes j’ai connu l’Afrique à travers des stéréotypes : l’Afrique est pauvre, il y a la guerre, famine… Je suis devenu entrepreneur pour briser ces clichés et participer à la construction du continent. J’ai lancé plusieurs entreprises dont Kareea (Formation et développement web), Tutorys (Plate-forme de e-learning), AfrikanFunding (Plate-forme de crowdfunding). Après un échec sur ma startup Tutorys, à cause d’une mauvaise exécution Business, un manque de réseau, pas de mentor, je suis parti 6 mois en immersion dans l’écosystème Tech au Sénégal. J’ai rencontré de nombreux entrepreneurs passionnés, talentueux et déterminés. A mon retour sur Paris je décide de raconter leur histoire en créant le média AfrikaTech. L'objectif est de soutenir les entrepreneurs qui se battent quotidiennement en Afrique en leur offrant la visibilité, les connaissances, le réseautage et les capitaux nécessaires pour réussir. L'Afrique de demain se construit aujourd'hui ensemble. Rejoignez-nous ! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boubacardiallo

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