Precinct Alumni Celebrate International Youth Day

August 12 recently marked International Youth Day, celebrated as an advocacy tool of the United Nations for “bringing youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrating the potential of youth as partners in today’s global society.” In 2021, the holiday brought focus to “Youth Innovation for Planetary Health”, particularly exploring the distinct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth and food systems.

Noting this theme in particular, it is not lost that our world continues to process a brand new report on global climate science, published by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We know that our youth will be disproportionately impacted by the future of climate science. After all, we’re talking about a 30+ year effort to stop the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – that’s just to stop things from getting worse.

Young people around the world are undeniably resilient. The Presidential Precinct is in the business of lifting up and promoting the ideas of young people from every region of the world, because we know this generation, especially when working across borders, holds the key to big, global challenges that often overwhelm our world today. When we say on our website that “we believe in the power of visionary leaders”, we’re not using longstanding positions of power as a qualifier for the term “leader”. Instead, we are talking about the unmistakable and inherent force of leaders – young and emerging – who are stepping up and taking responsibility for creating a future marked by peace, security, and opportunity.

For solving big challenges, we believe young people are the foremost among the qualified.

Here’s how a couple of Presidential Precinct program alumni celebrated the recent occasion:

Anganile Thomson, Tanzania

Anganile Thomson is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Akili Ya Pesa Small Business Entrepreneurship Challenge, which hosts a weekly pitch competition for young Tanzanians looking to earn recognition for their ideas and ventures. Anganile launched the challenge originally as a TV show, building on his career and existing personality with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, but the venture has now grown into its own brand and following among Tanzanian youth.

Akili Ya Pesa persists as a hub for young entrepreneurs to ideate, pitch concepts, and receive funding for their ventures. Anganile reports a significant growth in the Challenge’s network since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting an increase in need for methods of virtual engagement. The Challenge is well known through its Instagram and Facebook channels, where Anganile and his co-hosts share the entrepreneurial spirit of Challenge winners.

Anganile recently told us about a young man who started a business selling chili sauce (pictured below). The Akili Ya Pesa Challenge was a turning point for this man’s business – Anganile said “it helped him expand his network and the small capital he received helped him grow his business.”

Anganile, a serial entrepreneur himself, continues to develop new ideas to the benefit of Tanzanian youth. He is working on a film with a colleague in New York City that intends to build a stronger bridge between Africans and African-Americans. The film will center on youth culture and the connection of hip hop to create unity and understanding across cultures. He is also still working towards an app that he ideated in Charlottesville during his Mandela Washington Fellowship. Called ‘Wazi’ (a Swahili word for openness), this app would build community through open conversations about what a given community needs in order to grow, including methods for tackling systemic issues within the area.

On his drive behind all of these ongoing projects, Anganile reminded us: “You can never know how much of people’s lives you can change until you go out and make impact in the community.”

Alpha Sennon, Trinidad & Tobago

Alpha Sennon, like Anganile, is no stranger to pitch competitions for entrepreneurs. He came to the Presidential Precinct as a Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellow in 2016 and was the winner of the Presidential Precinct’s first ever pitch competition for YLAI Fellows!

Alpha’s then-blossoming idea and now-booming global movement is known as WHYFARM. It’s persevering mission is to “counter the challenges relating to food security in communities around the world”. This is all done by “engaging and educating youth on the importance of agriculture for food security and nutrition through agricultural education and entertainment.” With tools such as in-person educational workshops, online webinars, and comic books alike, Alpha is doing whatever it takes to engage youth in the importance of agriculture, or as he likes to say, agriCOOLture.

This year’s International Youth Day could not align more perfectly with WHYFARM’s work, specifically given its 2021 theme of Transforming Food Systems. Alpha and his team jumped to the occasion, co-hosting an event with the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service in Trinidad and Tobago. Titled “Youth in Agriculture: Innovation and Digitization”, the event featured nine panelists, including members of the House and Senate in Trinidad, representatives of the private sector and academia, media personalities, and of course, Alpha!

We know that these two alumni are among hundreds around the world carrying the concepts of human rights and justice, good governance, civic engagement, women’s empowerment, and more into their communities. And while International Youth Day gives us great reason to celebrate them, this work is certainly not limited to one day of the year.

Thank you all, Presidential Precinct alumni, for your persistence, the example that you set, and the hope that you give us on International Youth Day and every day.