BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MANZINI – “It is time we stand up, unite and change the situation Africa is in today.”
These were ‘I’m An African’ Founder Allan-Lloyd Hamusokwe’s words when speaking of the mission of the IAA organisation. IAA is one of Eswatini’s groups of determined young people working together for a sustainable development of Eswatini standards of living.
Founded in 2014, IAA recently launched their website following a series of creative economic development meetings with youth from Manzini, Ezulwini, and Mbabane among others. The IAA has also been meeting with Government Ministries and non-profit organisations to further their cause.
In an interview with EPN, IAA founder Allan-Lloyd Hamusokwe revealed that as part of their work with the youth, they have been emboldened as they aim to facilitate the creation of 200 sustainable jobs by mid-2023. Here is how the rest of the interview went:
1. EPN: What does the launch of the IAA website signify?
ALH: The Launch of the website signifies the beginning of an Era. We, the African Youth have decided to take our own destiny into our own hands, we will identify the problems we experience (Both Social Problems and financial Problems) as well as identify possible solutions, execute, monitor and evaluate.
The whole of Africa faces the same problems, it is not just one specific country, yet we tend to try and solve these problems individually. When we act individually, it creates a division between our nations and drifts us away from our transcendent destiny. Africa can no longer wait for the next generation to change things, it is time we stand up, unite and change the situation Africa is in today.
The past generations have done their part, it is time for us the youth to unite with each other, and begin to create an African empire that the sun shall never set on. It is our time to create African progress as the current youth of Africa – it is time we play our part.
2. Why has IAA been reaching out to the youth in different towns?
We at the I’m An African Organisation, believe that development is best done territorially. Each different location has with it its own nature, its own SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). So the I’m An African Organization operates territorially.
We have been Hosting the Creative Crunches in collaboration with Bantu Studio. The Creative Crunch is an event we host every two weeks. IAA meets each local Finance sector to:
* Create a platform for local youth to take advantage of local opportunities provided by the IAA Trust.
* Express any commercial and social problems they are experiencing, and tasking IAA Trust research about the problems and suggest solutions. (This is where we meet the local youth and establish a working relationship with the youth from that particular area and the IAA. We perform a SWOT analysis of the territory so that we can identify which opportunities we can execute now focusing on collective action.
These meetings are focused on the Financial Sector of the Organisation. The IAA Finance Sector is made up of the following groups:
– Entrepreneurs
– Creatives
– Unemployed Youth – From Unemployed Youth, Either employees or entrepreneurs will be created.
3. EPN: How has the Creative Crunch with the youth been going?
The Meetings have been successful, as we have been able to gather youth from the Mbabane Municipal Council, Ezulwini Municipal Council and Manzini Municipal Council. We have a total of around 90 Youth so far. We aim to create a development mental culture with the current youth before we increase to a larger number. We will be launching in Matsapha in the coming two weeks.
4. Having met with the Ministry of Agriculture among others, how has the Government, corporates, and Non-Profit Organisations’s (IAA) responded to the IAA mission?
ALH: We have received alot of support from the Government, NPO’s, as well as Corporates. We understand if you want to go a particular destination (African Development), instead of focusing how your transport (Organizational Strategies) might be different than other organizations, we believe in combining the efforts as it is not how you got to the destination that matters, but the fact that you actually arrived.
There are a lot of organizations we are in communication with to write MOU’s, as well as partner with. We really appreciate the support, and would like to commend them on their support and acceptance of the Organization.
4. EPN: What are the next steps for IAA?
– Our current focus is for us to ensure we are able to create Territorial Ecosystems at the different territories. We plan to do this by breaking down our operations into two phases:
* Phase 1 – Financial Phase where we strengthen and focus on the financial sector of a specified territory, by working through the Financial SWOT Analysis
* Phase 2 – Social Phase where we strengthen and focus on the Social sector of a specified territory, by working through the Social SWOT Analysis
– Our goal is to identify 50 entrepreneurs and employers in each territory. We will see them as the employers who will build the businesses for the employees. We aim to at least get the employers to provide at least sustainable 200 Jobs by mid-2023.
The recently launched website of the IAA is www.africanmovement.org.za.
This is some great stuff
This is exciting stuff