Leading Africa money transfer company Dahabshiil has said it is ready to help the Africa Union and the United Nations achieve the goal of empowering women and the youth to become self-reliant.
Speaking on the side-lines of the Africa Union summit in Ethiopia earlier in the week, Dahabshiil CEO Abdirashid Duale said it is important for Africa to unite and empower the youth and women through self-employed entrepreneurship.
“Women and youth play a vital role in the building of our economies in Africa. I am happy that the African Union has made a serious statement in their summit by putting these two groups first,” said Mr Duale.
ENGAGE YOUTH, WOMEN
He said that Dahabshiil has grown to be the leading remittance company in Africa because it has engaged youth and women.
“For the economy to grow, the women must play a big role because they are the majority. The youth too are vital as they are very entrepreneurial in nature.
“This is why personally I think AU and the United Nations are on the right track. What now needs to be done is to bring in partners to help this dream come true,” said Mr Duale.
LOANS
According to the Dahabshiil CEO, international financial institutions like the World Bank and its affiliates such as IFC, the Africa Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and regional development banks which provide loans, grants and technical assistance to governments, as well as loans to private businesses investing in developing countries, need to come in and join the AU, UN and remittance companies like Dahabshiil to make this dream of empowering the youth and women come true.
“As Dahabshiil, we have already targeted the youth as our priority. We have invested in a series of events to identify youth talent and create innovation in the sub-Saharan region. We have created job opportunities for the youth in the African nations where we have presence and we are planning to invest more on this. We know that an empowered society can achieve wonders,” Mr Duale said.
“We are ready to do even more for the sake of the women and the youth, and we are inviting the international partners to work with us in that noble course,” he added.
DIASPORA REMITTANCES
He also added that remittances from the diaspora have also given women and youth an opportunity to invest with the money they get from relatives living abroad.
The AU has set a goal to harness the demographic dividend through investments in youth.
It is built around four pillars of employment and entrepreneurship, education and skills development, health, wellbeing and rights, and governance and youth.
“Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth is the key to achieving the bold aspirations of Agenda 2063,” said Ms El Fadil, the Commissioner for Social Affairs at the African Union Commission.
She was speaking during the AU summit.
