On the 28th of August 2009, Harambe Nigeria , will be holding its second annual conference on youth development, themed ‘Planting the seeds for tomorrow’. The conference will hold the Shell Hall of the Muson Centre. Harambe Nigeria is the country’s arm of the global Harambe Endeavor Alliance, with a mission to revolutionize the way Nigerian youth engage with the agricultural sector by nurturing them into agri‐entrepreneurs and leaders.
Omotola Synmonu, President, Harambe Nigeria with a reporter.
The global Harambe project is an alliance of African students attending world-class universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Oxford , Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
The conference is held with support and partnerships with the Songhai Institute, LEAP Africa, The Future Project, Nigeria, and the Obafemi Awolowo University – will be followed by a fund raising dinner that same day; targeted at selected attendants from the conference, a handful of upwardly mobile young people, celebrities, corporate executives and government.
Reps from nigerdelta
Students from OAU
Students from OAU
The symposium on youth and development aims for an intellectual gathering of representatives from relevant agricultural institutions and, aims to build Nigeria’s first online Agricultural network for youth that will represent the multifaceted nature of agriculture and the un‐harnessed potential available within the field and to actively transform the negative image surrounding agriculture into a positive image that is appealing to Nigerian youth.
According to the organisation’s chief executive, Tola Sunmonu, “Our careful selection of individuals will represent the vast array of opportunities available in agriculture including agricultural policy, agri business, and farming techniques. A significant portion of the youth in attendance will be from agricultural universities around Nigeria . We will select students from each of the following universities: University of Agriculture ( Abeokuta ), University of Agriculture (Abia), University of Agriculture (Makurdi), Ahmadu Bello University , Obafemi Awolowo University , University of Lagos and Delta State University .”
The older panel
The youth panel
The symposium will culminate in a networking banquet dinner open to selected conference attendants. The banquet dinner will be the channel for a transfer of information amongst all Agricultural parties, particularly amongst different generations, that will be sustained via the project website.
Tola with Dr Sola Aliyu
Also, the first 20 young persons with bright agricultural ideas who send application to mailto:hharambenigeria@yahoo.com, will get a chance to exhibit their plans and speak to stakeholders in the industry at the Garden of opportunities for possible investment.
Tola Sunmonu and Gbenga Sesan
The success of the conference was evident in the large crowd that overfilled the capacity of its Terra Kulture hall, attracting guests from across Nigeria as well as the extensive media attention including from the BBC. That first conference set up the path to launch the Harambe Incubator for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural development [HISARD], which is currently operating at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife . 10 carefully selected fellows from the agricultural department receive the training and skills to enable them create innovative and sustainable solutions to agricultural problems facing the local Ife community as well as transform the image of agriculture amongst their peers and the next generation of agrileaders.
