welcome to the african leadership series where we bring you great inspirational
speeches of african leaders uh it's an honor to be here of course uh thank you guys a lot
for making the time to come out and we always wanted to be in a position where
our generation of africa would be completely different from
the average because ultimately we felt that it wasn't enough action and we felt there wasn't
enough communication and as you know as you follow how things move it's the people that run
countries you know uh our um uh elected uh officials are there to serve us and we have to
be in a position where we can properly communicate whatever our issues are and properly communicate
whatever it is that we're dealing with that they can help us overcome so it's a team effort
it's impossible for them to make all the decisions what i have in the communication and having it
opened enough to where we can clearly understand whatever our faults are whatever our challenges
are and how do we overcome this together so the econ light in africa was built on those
principles and we wanted to be in a position where i can be able to take my resources as a diaspora
a child of diaspora rather um and being in a position where my parents my parents were african
and understood the cultures taught me the cultures my earlier part of my years i was actually
raised there but i was actually born in the u.s because they didn't want us to have any issues as
far as immigration is coming back and forth those were challenges they themselves had faced but
it ultimately created a situation where i was able to be able to view both sides and experience both
cultures and understand the differences between america and africa and what's happened today
and for the last the whole week actually has been something that's just been amazing
because it allowed us to be able to open up those avenues of communication and
better understand each other and the challenges that we're facing and the cultures that we're
actually experiencing so within all of that of course one thing that always popped up was the one
issue that africa has been facing for years which is the energy crisis
and it's been one of those challenges because the infrastructure hasn't already been set up
so acon lighting africa was set up to create a avenue to start the beginning building process for
infrastructure but the problem was in the rural areas which is the heartbeat of africa there was
no lights there was no energy but one thing that we all can say is that africa has the one benefit
is that the sun is always there we'll never run out of sun in africa which is free energy so how
do we utilize that and maximize that opportunity so we created a solar project which would
electrify those rural areas and allow us to be able to bring energy to those areas which will and
then create jobs for those locals and also create different avenues and opportunities for them to be
able to work themselves back this city and be more productive citizens to help build africa
moving forward so that's been major for us as far as how do we move forward but we also realize
that we would have to depend and also utilize the diaspora because we've uh we're clearly out here
getting an education that is lacking in certain parts of africa and as much as africa cherish
education we just don't have the facilities and don't have you know the the resources
you know i mean you have children out there that's walking miles and miles and miles for school
and would do anything just for that education you almost we like here in the states we take that for
granted like we're skipping school we're trying to find reasons not to go we're calling in sick or
whatever the case may be but you have children out there that understand what that value is
and just don't have access to it so it's almost to a point where we all have to play equal role
because as humans in the humanitarian as you know as a state of you know communication we have to be
there to fulfill needs of others that don't have it if we can be in a position where
we can actually allocate whatever there it is they're missing then we wouldn't want to be in
that position to do it because it overall helps the human race as a whole and i think when we
communicate and unite in a in a sense of that matter we actually can build a better future
for our children because i always think of my kids when i travel like how will this be 10
15 years from now when he or she is older and has to roll through these parts of the world
will they be safe will they be able to be in a position where they can actually provide for
their children as well so as we're thinking we always have to think future and of course as you
know the future is our children so that's always been my main focus and not on that
but the children are the future leaders you know so ultimately econ lighting africa has
wanted to put a stand a footprint in the development of africa and didn't want to be
left out as we're moving forward so we're trying to create a very simple very cost effective way
of creating light and energy in areas of the rural areas of africa that's just pretty much as absent
at the moment and then at the same time we want to be able to create jobs and open up the doors for
africans to be able to provide for themselves and put them in positions where they also can create
resources for themselves to be able to build their own country and be an asset now to building
the rest of the world in a more physical way rather than just a way of pulling from
the resources and taken out and nothing's coming back into the continent so thank you
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