A key highlight of the opening day of AAM2022 was the introduction of four successful young entrepreneurs from Brazil and Africa by Professor Joao Monte, President of the Brazil Africa Institute (IBRAF), a non-profit organization that aims to promote international cooperation between Brazil and the African continent.
Malawi-based farmer and ‘Agripreneur’, Maness Nkhata participated in an exchange programme with IBRAF that took her to Brazil where she received training on how to take her sunflower farming business to new heights. The farm now turns sunflowers into cooking oil, said Nkhata who also shares her skills with 4,000 farmers and is training young entrepreneurs across Southern Africa. Maness believes that having strong motivation is what sets successful entrepreneurs apart.
Filipe Pereira founded a game development company, Aoca, from Bahia, Brazil. Aoca creates intellectual properties that internationalize Brazilian popular culture in a playful and interactive way. Its main product is the ÁRIDA franchise, a series of adventure games that takes place in the Brazilian backlands of the 19th century. Resilience, opportunity and dignity are his main drivers.
Eco Ciclo, founded by Hellen Nzinga, is a smart young business that started life developing sustainable personal hygiene products for women. The business has developed into a workplace that also collates intelligence and data used to motivate and coach young entrepreneurs on the design and development of sustainable products.
Straight-talking Claudia Senghor, founder of Agrobabe motivates young people to work in agriculture by talking to them about making money and generating impressive revenue streams. Ms. Senghor told the audience that the most successful entrepreneurs were those with vision and passion.
The four entrepreneurs highlighted AAM2022’s central theme; “Leveraging the Power of the Youth” as each demonstrated the impact young people can make by contributing to the success of their country’s economies with smart, sustainable and bankable businesses.