It is my privilege to deliver the keynote address for this Global Shapers Africa 80 launch. Richard Poplak, co-author of “Continental Shift - A Journey into Africa's Changing Fortunes” writes:

“Africa is failing. Africa is succeeding. Africa is betraying its citizens. Africa is a place of starvation, corruption and disease. African economies are soaring faster than any on earth. Africa is squandering its bountiful resources. Africa is a roadmap for global development. Africa is turbulent. Africa is stabilising. Africa is doomed. Africa is the future.”

Is Africa rising or is Africa falling? Or is it a little bit of both. How do we shape our continent to see strong economic growth, characterised by eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and creating decent jobs for all? How do we shape our continent where education is prioritised for all and not for a privileged few?

Continents where young women are empowered to play leadership roles just as young men do.  Where the direction Africa takes is determined from within rather than from outside. Where the artificial colonial divides no longer shape us but a united Africa arises at peace with herself and the world. This vision for Africa will not succeed without young people as African shapers and indeed global shapers.

This launch takes place right on the heels of the commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Youth Uprising on June 16, 1976 in South Africa. This is an important historical event that arose the gigantic force that the youth represented in challenging the ugly system of apartheid. The youth of ’76 shaped a future for both our country and the whole continent and redefined the terms of struggle and resistance against oppressive colonial systems.

We are more determined, as we celebrate Africa Day today, to come, to continue to build African consciousness and pan-Africanism amongst our people. In general, everyone within the continent have co-existed and made Africa the biggest and warmest home for its children, and even for those who labelled us as Barbarians came to settle here.

If those who were central in creating borders in our continent can succeed in destroying borders within their own continents, we should ask ourselves why we fail in doing the same and creating One Africa.

We will only end these forms of violence amongst Africans if we destroy the borders that merely shelter our poverty, our inequality and our under-development and strengthens the fear and scepticism that African people will continue to have amongst themselves. In this regard, I am reminded of the wise words of one of the greatest African statesman, Kwame Nkrumah, who said that:

"...We must unite for economic viability, first of all, and then to recover our mineral wealth in Southern Africa, so that our vast resources and capacity for development will bring prosperity for us and additional benefits for the rest of the world.”

Is it not an irony that as things stands, 50 years later after Nkrumah’s words, the mineral wealth of our continent have somewhat benefitted and continues to benefit the rest of the world and have remained a curse that invited political instability, violence and dictatorships on the people of the continent.

On another occasion, in his seminal book, Revolutionary Path, Nkrumah, a champion of African Unity, declares that: “…No independent African State today by itself has a chance to follow an independent course of economic development, and many of us who have tried to do this have been almost ruined or have had to return to the fold of the former colonial rulers.”

Our role as African global shapers should be about our reaffirmation of the role that young women, and young people in general, should play towards African unity and in bringing down the borders that have kept the older generation divided, sometimes even on European terms and conditions, with certain regions referred to as Francophone and others as Anglophone, having nothing to do with Zulu, Swahili, Igbo, Hausa, Somali or Yoruba.

The youth of our continent, constituting 65% of the population, are a catalytic force for the attainment of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.  Your role and your actions will be instrumental in placing young people at the centre of the continuous development of the African development agenda.  Whilst the rest of the world is aging, a youthful Africa has to take advantage of the potential demographic dividend that is brought about by this youth bulge.

Let us put books and pens in the hands of young people to educate and skill them for a better future for Africa, rather than bullets and guns to fight wars decided by the older generations and which further deteriorates our continent.

Let us build on the capacity, energy, vigour of young people towards innovation and entrepreneurship to take advantage of the huge need for industrialisation and beneficiation of our mineral resources rather than exporting these resources as raw materials in exchange for arms to fund our internal and civil wars.

The youth rebels we need should be in technology, entrepreneurship and innovation if we are to give true meaning to Agenda 2063. Young, creative and passionate about his community, Samuel Malinga is the archetypical African innovator.

From a rural community in the North East Uganda, Malinga grew up with the harsh socioeconomic challenges which pervade most African communities. At age 12 he moved to the Naguru slum in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and there he was faced with the community-wide problem of poor sanitation and lack of proper waste management.

These difficulties inspired Malinga to think up innovative solutions that would tackle head on the pervasive challenges in rural areas, like the one he hails from, and urban slums, like the one in which he grew up in. One of his innovations is the conversion of faecal sludge into briquettes that basically do a better job as cooking fuel than charcoal or firewood.

Today, Malinga is one of the most revered young innovators in Africa and this year, he has been recognised in several publications and events for his innovations. Samuel Malingawon The Tony O. Elumelu Prize in Business at The Future Africa Awards 2015.  He is a young rebel when it comes to technology, entrepreneurship and innovation.

He is a young rebel that is shaping the continent.  He is a young rebel that the continent needs.

Mmanti Umoh, a young African writes: “Africa needs to empower its young people to increase their ability to personally influence what is happening in their lives and communities. Involve youth in government decision-making processes which includes: involving young people in the planning and delivery of services that interest and impact upon them, equipping young people with skills so they can increasingly contribute to decision making and instigate matters for government consideration thereby creating the opportunities for young people to become more involved in their communities.

To meet Africa’s challenges head on we need a generation of ground-breaking and adaptable young people to create their future. If we give the youth an opportunity, the future is going to look very different.

Young people are not a problem to be helped or solved, they are the conduits of creativity and catalyst for change. Young people are ambitious, creative and capable of rethinking the world and solving tomorrow’s problems today. With young people the world of work is changing because young people are enterprising. Young people can lead social action with a social conscience that will let them build a better world in the process.”

As we meet here today, there are still countries that are yet to ratify, or even to sign, the African Youth Charter and therefore creating doubt about their commitment to youth development and empowerment.

As young activists and global shapers, we must insist that we cannot affirm a country’s commitment to the goals set in Agenda 2063 when they have not appended their signature on the African Youth Charter. The future of the continent, which in Agenda 2063, begins with the implementation of the basic tenets of the African Youth Charter.

This year, 2016, marks the 10th Anniversary since the African Youth Charter was adopted in July 2006 in Banjul by Heads ofState and Government. As young activists, you are well placed to begin to lobby for the review of the implementation of the key articles of the African Youth Charter.

South Africa has adopted the National Youth Policy 2020, whose intention is to tabulate government, civil society, business and young people’s goals and commitments towards youth development and empowerment. Just as in many countries in our continent, South Africa is equally faced with the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality which predominantly affect young people.

Through this policy, and guided by the African Youth Charter, we have placed at the centre of youth development and empowerment issues of the economy, access to education and skills, entrepreneurship, healthy lifestyles, national cohesion and nation building and strengthening youth development institutions and agencies.

Young Africans must tell their own story. They must shape the narrative about our continent rather than allow it to be shaped by others. There is an African proverb that says: “Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story”. When a hunter brings home a lion it may very well be due to the hunter’s skills.  But it may as well be due to pure luck.  The lion might have been sleeping or injured.

No matter in what circumstances the lion is killed, a hunter will always tell a story that makes the hunter shine. Is the hunter telling the true story or just bragging? No one will ever know. The story is never complete until one hears from both sides. The one who does not have the voice is often the loser.

Too often our stories are told for us. In fact these stories are often not our own stories. They are largely American or European. They have little relevance to our experienced reality. And we consume them daily. They may have their place in our society, but we need stories that resonate with our lived experiences.

Content that shape and reaffirm our cultural identities. Content that projects the images we can identify with. Content that poses difficult questions around national identity, our development pathway, and our governance. Content that forces us as a nation to grapple with.

Content that stimulates debate in our communities, in our workplaces, in our places of worship, in our schools, in our bedrooms, around our dinner tables, and yes, even in Parliament. After all, we have much to offer to the world. Films such as Tsotsi, From a Whisper, Mwansa the Great and many more have graced movie theatres and film festivals the world over. These films have told our stories and made us proud in the process.

I commend the launch of the publication Africa80. It is encouraging to see 80 young African leaders working and serving in different spheres from over 30 countries, collaborating together for the building of our continent. I believe that this book will command attention across the continent.  But more importantly, it will provoke the spirit of unity, working together for the benefit of Africa’s current and future generations.