The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind #UnreasonableAfrica
Welcome to the latest instalment of your Movemeback Newsletter – bringing you exciting African opportunities, and the latest from the Movemeback Community.
You may have heard of ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ – the incredible true story of the teenage Malawian boy, who dreamed of bringing electricity to his impoverished village. For a child who dropped out of school at 14 (unable to afford his fees), the possibility of achieving such a bold ambition may appear implausible to some… and completely unreasonable to others. Yet after seeing a picture of a windmill in a tattered library book, the incredible William Kamkwamba transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk.
This happened in 2002, and Kamkwamba has gone on to receive well deserved accolade. However, we mention him as we believe that Kamkwamba continues to perfectly exemplify what those committed to a better Africa can achieve when they are “unreasonable”. Unreasonable Africa was the theme of the Oxford Business Forum Africa (BFA) conference, which we attended as partners of the school.
Oxford BFA celebrated the bold visions, decisions and successes of business people in Africa. It featured heavy-hitters, including Trevor Manuel, Former Finance Minister of South Africa; former Managing Director of the CDC Group and Coleman, Head of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking division for Sub-Saharan Africa. We also had the pleasure of meeting many old and new Movemeback members, as we gave a talk on business and career opportunities in Africa.
We consider Movemeback to be a bit unreasonable, as we continue to pursue our vision of contributing to Africa’s social and economic growth through enabling a community of great people to engage in exciting African opportunities. Our dream is only achievable through the collaboration and support of the growing Movemeback community. So if you have an “unreasonable” African ambition that you think the Movemeback community can assist with, tell us using our Feedback page – we’d love to do all we can to help.
Finally, if you’re lucky enough to be in/around North Carolina over the weekend, don’t miss Duke’s Business in Africa Conference! Its theme is ‘Reinvigorating Innovation and Leadership in Africa’, and seeks to explore the essential components of innovation ecosystems for Africa, describe their possible architectures, and outline practical steps for their establishment.
And as always, don’t forget to continue to help us shape the Movemeback community by referring other greats to join us!
Warm regards,
The Movemeback team