Kindu town in the Democratic Republic of Congo has a rich history of ivory, gold and slave trade during the nineteenth century. Apart from this, many young successful Africans were born and bred here. Today we get the honor of meeting one of them, Masudi Radjabu Papy.
At eight years, his parents divorced which frustrated him and his dreams. He had no option but to get accustomed to being raised by his father, step mum and grandmother.
I was a very curious and clever boy. Even though we had financial challenges, I still had a vision, purpose and faith that allowed me to concentrate and put in extra work in my studies.
He joined high school only to drop out immediately after war broke out. Staying at home for one year was painful. His perseverance paid off four years later upon graduation.
He got a diploma in Literary studies. Papy worked odd jobs at The MONUSCO and The Entebbe Handling Service which aided in paying for his fees at the University of Kinshasa where he studied Political Science.
Graduating was great. I was overly excited and felt like I had arrived. Well, until I put my papers together and went job hunting. It dawned on me that there were thousands of others like me who were knocking on every possible door without success. I met the ugly and shameless devil called unemployment.
One not to let external factors put him down, the young fearless leader partnered with a friend and created a social enterprise, Action solidaire de jeunes entrepreneurs in Maniema (ASOJEN). Their main objective is to bridge the gap between job seekers and job providers, and to offer interpersonal and leadership skills to the youth through various platforms.
The organization has directly impacted 30 young men and women and employed seven people on a full time basis.
With a love for gender equality, Papy is currently running an awareness campaign directed at women. He feels there’s a gap in women leadership and admits to hating Misogyny with a passion.
My advice to the youth is to never stop believing and working on themselves. Learn more, do more, change lives. Stretch yourself because opportunities only come to those who are already waiting at the table with their cutlery ready to dig in.
I always find time to give back. Currently, I am working with the U.S Embassy in Kinshasa under the MOOC (Massive Online Courses) program as a facilitator.
I am also working with the YALI team down here to ensure as many youth as possible apply for the program. That even those that do not make it, at least have an option of joining the open YALI Network.
My experience after getting selected for YALI RLC was life changing. I actually applied to the center over 10 times and got selected at the eleventh trial.
My fellow youth, you need to wake up and realize we have all the resources in Africa. We are growing at an accelerated rate. Are you willing to sit at the table or down at the carpet eating crumbs with the dogs? The choice is yours to make.
Papy’s vision is to reach and impact over 500,000 youth in the next 10 years in DRC. He hopes to be the go to advocate for social interests for his community.
When he is not dipping his hands in the serious stuff, Radjabu loves to dance, sing and socialize over a plate of ugali and sombe (cassava leaves in palm oil). I must engage in this dish for I have heard so much about it.
The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a wholehearted and strenuous effort.-Chanakya.
Keep roaring Papy and taking this continent to the next level.
