Some participants at the forum
Nestlé has called on the private sector to maximize efforts at building the capacity of young people in Africa to take up leadership roles that will ensure their development and help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The call was made during the 2018 African Youth SDGs Summit in Accra under the theme “partnership with Youth to achieve the SDGs: moving from Policy to actions” with over 1,000 young Africans, private sector partners, including Nestlé.
Speaking at the summit on the theme, “Promoting decent jobs through innovative agribusiness,” Fatih Ermis, Head of Agricultural Services at Nestlé Central West Africa, highlighted the role private sector must play to rejuvenate interest of the youth in Africa in agriculture.
“Africa has a declining workforce in agriculture with the average farmer being 60 years old. This situation threatens food security and our journey towards zero hunger. It’s therefore important for private sector to invest in young people and revive their interest in agriculture.
Nestlé has an ambition to help 10 million young people have access to economic opportunities by 2030.
The company demonstrates this ambition through its “Nestlé Needs Youth” initiative which offers training, knowledge acquisition and skills development through Graduate and Management Trainee programmes, Internships and National Service.
Emmanuel Ametepey, Executive Director of Youth Advocates Ghana and convener of the summit, thanked Nestlé for supporting the 2nd edition.
Commenting on private sector’s involvement in youth development, he said, “It’s very interesting to note that all the 17 SDGs were one way or the other connected directly to young people who are the future of Africa. It’s therefore apparent that private sector gets involved with policies and mechanisms in place to help young innovators nurture their ingenuity and help them take charge of the SDGs. This is one of the objectives of this summit to help strike partnership between the youth and the private sector.”