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Leonard Ncube 

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THE agriculture sector presents huge business opportunities for African entrepreneurs, which  youths must fully embrace and boost regional production and trade in line with the Pan-African development ideals.

Zimbabwe’s economy is anchored on agriculture, alongside mining, manufacturing, and tourism, which are key growth drivers under the National Development Strategy (NDS1).

Speaking at the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Africa-Middle East conference here yesterday, group chief operating officer of Masawara, a transnational company with interest in a number of countries including Zimbabwe, Mr Joseph Hundah, said youths were the future of the continent hence they occupy a key position in the Africa Agenda 2063.

He urged young people to think beyond their national borders when investing in businesses saying agriculture alone has huge potential to steer growth.

“Agriculture is a low-hanging fruit for youths, which is why you find anyone who finds land they think of farming. If you have a piece of land, venture into agriculture,” he said.

“Just start a business with what you have and don’t look at trends for you might be late if you copy others. Africa has a unique set of problems so you should look at what is happening in your background and your country. 

“Don’t start a business that does not have a Pan-African vision. Africa has a volatile market and if your business fails in one country because of market forces, it should be able to survive in the other.”

The JCI conference is being attended by delegates from Africa and Asia as well as other continents. 

Mr Hundah urged youths to familiarise themselves with national regulations and use various network platforms at their disposal to enhance their skills including tapping into clean energy opportunities.

“One should have knowledge of their locality before becoming an entrepreneur so as to provide the right business and services,” he said. 

“By 2050 a third of all world youths will be in Sub-Saharan Africa and some countries will be exporting labour.

“So go for partnerships, for investors prefer collaborations,” said Mr Hundah.

He said the future of Africa is in youths who constitute a significant population, hence can close the trade gap between countries, especially as trade between African member states is very low.

JCI Zimbabwe national president,  Mr Samuel Takudzwa Nehumba, encouraged youths to pursue skills development.

“This organisation helps us see opportunities in the midst of challenges and we encourage members to take up news skills and 30 have so far taken new skills in various sectors. Our recommendation to JCI World is to update skills development courses and twinning,” he said.

JCI South Africa said they are working on membership growth working with tertiary institutions to enhance skills development among other human resource development initiatives.

JCI is a global membership-driven organisation whose membership is drawn from youths between the ages of 18 and 40 years.  This is the first time the conference is being held in the country.

The organisation’s objective is to capacitate youth to be able to take up leadership roles at workplaces and in their communities. 

JCI operates in about 5 000 communities in 115 countries worldwide with over 200 000 active members and over two million alumni comprising mostly former members that are more than 40 years old. 

The conference started yesterday and will end on Saturday under the theme: “Leadership, Resilience and Sustainability”, with the objective of capacitating youths to be resilient and drive sustainable economies especially in times of shocks like during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The organisation is divided into Africa-Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific and America regions. — @ncubeleon