Cape Town – The USAID Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), launched by the United States(U.S.) government in 2010, to invest in supporting emerging African leaders, will showcase 100 YALI alumni at a dedicated pavilion at the Africa Tech Festival 2024.
With more than 15,000 attendees from across the continent and the world, the Africa Tech Festival provides world-class speakers, industry leading content, international exhibitions, and outcome-driven networking with a focus on how tech integration is delivering real-world impact through enterprise excellence and socioeconomic development. The Africa Tech Festival 2024 is being held between November 12 and 14, at the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
Overlapping with the Africa Tech Festival, also at the CTICC, is the USAID-led YALI Alumni Expo and Trade Show between November 11 and 13. The YALI Expo seeks to convene, connect, and celebrate YALI alumni making positive change in their communities by creating networking opportunities and showcasing innovations for sustainable impact.
With a population of 1.3 billion people whose median age is 19 years old, one of Africa’s most important resources is its youth. By supporting YALI, the U.S. government works with public, private sector, and civil society partners across the continent to develop initiatives and economic opportunities that advance young African innovations and African-driven community initiatives.
Since its inception, YALI has trained and empowered more than 28,000 young leaders through the YALI Regional Leadership Centers, 7,200 from the Mandela Washington Fellowship and provided leadership courses and training for more than 600,000 members of the YALI Network from all 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Through its diverse programs, YALI alumni have gone on to create and scale enterprises, lead advocacy campaigns, strengthen community resilience, and contribute to policy reforms in their respective countries.
Approximately 500 YALI Alumni will attend the YALI Expo in Cape Town, including those selected to be featured at the USAID-sponsored YALI Pavilion at the Africa Tech Festival. These 100 selected alumni will include businesses from 31 African countries representing sectors such as agriculture, education, energy, financial services, and healthcare.
Meet the innovators shaping Africa’s future! Visit the YALI Pavilion at the Africa Tech Festival 2024 to connect with our featured YALI 100. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn more about how these alumni use inspirational tech to advance their businesses, explore collaboration opportunities, and engage with African changemakers.
Viceswerve
Vusi Thembekwayo – CEO of Motiv8, and Founder of The Inspiration Project, My Growth Fund and Iconoclast: At 25, Vusi Thembekwayo served on the operations board of Metcash Africa. He was tasked with launching a new division, which he built into a R461 million turnover business. He then left to launch his own business in 2013, Motiv8 his own consulting business, which he bootstrapped with speaking engagements. \”In my experience, the only way to succeed is to invest time in your own development and have \”skin in the game.\’ Time enables you to build technical ability and establishes your credibility in the market,\” says Thembekwayo. He went on to become one of the \”dragons\’ on the South African edition of Dragons\’ Den, where he was responsible for allocation over R10 million worth of investment, as well as one of the \”sharks\’ on M-Net\’s Shark Tank. In 2011, he co-founded Watermark Capital Partners, a private equity firm. In 2013, he was appointed non-executive director at RBA Holdings Ltd. In 2014, he founded The Inspiration Project, a tech enabled narrative lab reshaping the story of Africa, qualified to join the National Speakers Association of New York, and founded My Growth Fund, a fund to support business people as they start, build and grow their businesses. In 2015, he founded Iconoclast, a boutique specialist public speaker representation management agency.