Below is a speech I delivered as student representative for the African Leadership University School of Business Class of 2019 at our graduation ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda.
In many ways, the speech was a seminal moment for me as it culminated in me joining another great network of like-minded pan-Africans with an itch to take on the continent's challenges with big hairy audacious goals, to borrow the term from Jim Collins' "Built to Last." The moment also allowed me to express my love for the continent of Africa and my desire to see it reach its greatest and fullest potential.
I have been privileged to travel widely and hold positions throughout my career that have allowed me to witness first-hand why the prudent management of our natural resource wealth for future generations calls for all of us to rise to the occasion, jumping into the arena, and putting ourselves forward to move the needle forward in that regard.
The photograph above was taken a few weeks ago during a state visit to Angola by President Hakainde Hichilema and an article I read last week reminded me of the importance of the Lobito Corridor to the continent's, and Zambia's, future in terms of trade and export of critical minerals–key to the development and growth of the renewable energy transition. Beyond mineral exports, the corridor provides an opportunity for the continent to export value-added products. It is hoped that local beneficiation and manufacturing industries will take centre stage.
Realizing the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and to enable the free flow of people, goods, and services will require significant investment in our agricultural, broadband, energy, rail, road, and water infrastructure.
It has been widely reported that Africa's infrastructure gap stands at around $100 million per annum and in an interview with a friend and former colleague at Africa Renewal on the importance of infrastructure to the success of the AfCFTA, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina spoke of the need for public-private partnerships and the use of sovereign wealth funds to plug the financing gap. Adesina went on to say, "...Take a look at the sovereign wealth funds and the pension funds in Africa, all that together is roughly $2 trillion. You're talking about an infrastructure gap of $68 billion to 108 billion. That is minuscule compared to the size of the sovereign wealth fund that we have. So, we will need to mitigate the risk for the sovereign wealth fund and other insurance investors so they can take part of their portfolio and invest in infrastructure."
Initiatives such as unlocking the continent's sovereign wealth, Africa 50, and other efforts to narrow the financing gap will be critical to the continent's success as will the ventures of Africa's youthful population and private sector. I am always encouraged by the great work being undertaken by the likes of BongoHive, iHub, Norrsken House Kigali, and Future Africa to build resilient African entrepreneurs and businesses.
I hope that you will join me here and on the Scale Up Africa Podcast as I share my musings, experiences, and observations on how we can leverage Africa's agriculture, finance, manufacturing, mining, and technology to build and develop the continent's human and natural resource wealth.
Let me know what you think. What are some of your big hairy audacious goals for Africa? How are you connecting the dots and what helpful systems have you put in place? Looking forward to hearing from you and how we can unlock opportunities across the continent.
Speech Text
It is my single most honour and privilege to stand before you today as a proud member of the graduating Class of 2019 and an alumni of [one of] Africa’s Most Innovative Organisation[s], according to Fast Company!
When we began this journey 20 months ago, Dean Modupe then welcomed us with the very sage words of “do not waste my time!”
Now, when you hear words like that from a tall, cool, and calm 260lbs-of-swag–West Point graduate, you sit up and take notice!
No matter how challenging the journey over the last 20 months was, little did we know how gratifying, life changing and full of growth it would be.
20 months ago, we all dared to do the hard things for Africa’s future by taking the chance to be part of Africa’s history and the 3 million African Leaders by 2035 challenge that Fred and the Africa Leadership Group had dared to set.
Nearly 12 years ago, I sat in the audience as a Fellow at TEDGlobal Africa in Arusha, Tanzania and listened to Fred share his dream of a peaceful and prosperous Africa by developing change agents for the continent.
In 2010, at an ALN event in Sandton, I sat in the audience as Acha spoke of this powerful business network he and Fred had set up to encourage intra-African trade, investment, and collaboration.
In many ways, this moment today connects the dots and brings my deep love for Africa full circle.
I stand before you today, to challenge myself, my classmates, alumni, and future African Leaders to carry the mantle forward and build the Africa we have all always dreamed of!
An Africa that creates jobs, adds value to its natural resource wealth, and builds businesses that solve for its greatest challenges.
Now, it has been said that in Africa, an ALUSB MBA student is raised by the community and that certainly rang true for us throughout our MBA journey.
From the late-night phone calls to classmates and accountability partners, to our group chat debates and commentary—especially during Leadership Lab webinars—to our adventures exploring the beautiful City of Kigali and making any space we took over come alive; we came into this program as strangers but now leave as a well-knit family and community.
We say thank you to our families, friends, co-workers and others who had to listen to us complain about being drowned in assignments and missing life events because we had PECAB, LL, HLT and PAG meetings or other assignments due. We are pretty sure it all sounded Wakandan to you but thank you nonetheless for standing by us and supporting our dreams.
A special thank you has to go to Prof. Catherine Duggan!
For igniting an eternal flame in us to do more for the continent than we have or will ever receive from it and to identify ourselves as the leaders who are crazy enough to change this great continent’s fortunes as women and men in the arena and not the side lines!
We will never forget the life-long lessons we learned here and we carry them forward knowing that it is in us to make a beautiful Africa rise!
To my classmates, that I am proud to represent before you today, I say go forth and make all your dreams a reality because you never know what you will inspire in others, the level of impact it will have on the lives of millions, and the dots you will provide and connect for countless lives!
I would like to echo the words of the late Kwame Nkrumah who once said, “the task ahead is great indeed and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge – a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, and the courage to achieve – to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?”
As I end my speech today, I implore you all to have the resilience and the courage to do hard things for Africa’s Century!
For there is no greater calling nor responsibility than this!
Thank you.