World Economic Forum on Africa: Experiences

Thursday, 10 July 2008 | posted by Matt_BC
General, Guildford 2008, WEF Davos 2008

During the month of June 2008 Cape Town was host to the 18th World Economic Forum on Africa Meeting. For me, it was my first time participating in any of the meetings.

Five people were chosen to attend the meeting by the British Council, that is: Chanda, Aida, Gillion, Oumayma and I, Asanda. It was clear from the start that we all stood for one VOICE and that was the Youth Voice. But we all had different topics that we wanted to participate in at the meeting.

I had already drawn out my objectives for the meeting and they were on access and sustainability in education, youth involvement in policy formation or public decisions and social responsibility and entrepreneurship in Africa. But aside from these objectives I also had my expectations, and they were almost exactly as I had anticipated in reality. A whole lot of business people, the most men I had ever seen under one roof, women in stilettos, global elites rubbing shoulders and shiny business card holders. It was astonishing.

 But I was not a pessimist, if you can't beat them join them, I thought, and make sure it benefits you. So I got to work and handed out my roadtodavos post cards with my details and information written on the flip-side- to ensure that the person would not forget the time and place they had met me.

My favourite sessions in the meeting were the two on Education- Empowering young minds and the Healthy Body/Healthy Profit session. Of course, I supported the former strongly and opposed to the latter with more or less the same emotion. This is considering the current health and disease status on the continent, widening gap between private and public healthcare and the adversity people are faced with.

 I can say that I could evidently and gladly see the skills that we learned at Guilford/Greenwich come into play during the meeting. As a team we would secure safety in numbers by all attending sessions we perceived to impact us directly or needed youth contribution. Some of us almost bit the mic on topics close to heart or home. Some networked like there was no tomorrow, whether over lunch or in the elevator.

By the end of the week I had people who came up to me and wanted to know what it is that I was doing. People had observed this group of young people who are not totally opposed to everything but want to see a positive change taking place in private and public initiatives. People like Jacqouline Tong of Ernest and Young, Kerishnie Naiker who has a Welfare Foundation named after her, Dennis Karpes of Dance4Life Netherlands, and a few others. All of whom wanted to know about the project, my thoughts on the role of youth and possible partnerships.

I can honestly say that we had a good time because we were able to be ourselves. No false projections or pretences. We stood up for what we were opposed to and encouraged and supported what we believed in, and which was in the interest of the public and youth. After evaluating the event we were able to see the objectives we had achieved and whereto go from here.

 Amongst our achievements is unconsciously initiating a night of dance at the wine estate dinner at Spier. We were the only ones dancing but before we knew it other participants took to the stage. I think it inspired a bit of competition amongst them, and any uncertainty about which company or organization is better was soon demystified by the battle on the dance floor.

Truly a memorable experience