One bright morning, he got tired of the poverty at home and walked to a local school and straight to the principal’s office. He lacked the necessary basic items like shoes, uniform, school fees and stationery but that did not stop him.

He had a drive that was stronger than his age and advice from his encouraging mother who has always been his greatest cheerleader. He confesses that everyday as he walked bare feet and hungry to school, he prayed to God and declared poverty his number one enemy.

Manifestation of a great future became his second name over the long walks. He visualized a great future and meditated upon it day and night. Out of his six siblings, he is the only one who managed to get to University. He graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Education at Tumain University-SMMUCo under a government sponsorship.

I ran small businesses mainly selling plastics bags and boiled eggs in open air markets twice every week. I saved the money and used it to invest in rearing chicken and goats. This was how I paid for my primary and secondary school education. 

I was also able to buy uniform and books. Skipping school to look for money wasn't fun, but it got me to where I am today.

Alex is the founder of Tanzania Small Entrepreneurs Network (TASEN), an organization that empowers the community through promoting social entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity. This helps in solving the unemployment problem and fights against poverty. The organization has directly empowered over 1,000 young people through various forms of training.

Africa is the land of opportunities. Young people should not give up. They should find solutions for problems affecting their communities. I love learning. I read a lot. I apply for as many leadership training courses as I can. I recently graduated from YALI RLC E.A. It was amazing sharpening my leadership and interpersonal skills.

This lionhearted young leader has a passion for politics and has been politically active in his community in Arusha. His vision is to mentor thousands of youth. He also has a clear plan of running for office as a Member of parliament in 2025.

As a young husband and father, he owes his balance of work and family to his very supportive wife who is also passionate about civic leadership.

If you happen to be in Tanzania, connect with him over his favorite meal of ugali accompanied by anything spicy. He is looking for potential partners to be able to reach as many youth as possible.

We wish you the very best Alex, keep soaring.

The post I Intend To Frustrate That Demonic Poverty Away From My Community. Alex Mbise appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.

After completing my sponsored primary school education, I developed a windmill. This was because I had identified a huge need of lack of electricity in my village growing up. I approached various partners in vain. One person who bought in to my vision funded the idea.

Liston pursued his high school education in South Africa. He had always wanted to develop his own mobile phone and when the nationwide Science Congress competition was announced, he developed a mobile phone that got the attention of professors, organizations and the masses in Africa and abroad.

I was still perfecting my windmill idea while in high school. I have always believed in one of my purposes being making life better in my village.

Between 2012 and 2013 while in high school, I developed an electronic powered generator that is powered by cow dung and runs on hydrogen gas. I won first position nationwide in the science fair. There was high demand for the product. I sold three to the members of public. It was surreal.

Liston got a scholarship to join the African Leadership Academy in 2014 to study entrepreneurship. He is also a YALI RLC E.A 2017 alumni.

With a friend, they founded an NGO, Cicle of Influence Projects Society in 2015. The organization trains entrepreneurship to high school students. They have had 25 students go through the program.

The multi talented Liston also identified a need for tractors for farmers in his village, who mostly use their hands because of lack of resources. He took it upon himself to build an affordable tractor from scratch that is fuelled on cow dung. His prototype got feedback from farmers and he is currently working on its improvements.

I still get orders for windmills and generators so I spend almost all my time in the garage. It's also been one year in to real adult life since high school. In August of this year I will be joining University of Rochester in the U.S to pursue Electrical and Computer Engineering. My vision is to come back even more energized and full of knowledge that will help improve my country.

His vision is to create an African tech brand that offers affordable products and solutions to pressing issues in the electricity and agriculture industries.

Young people should believe in themselves. Every time people look at me and my age, they doubt me until they see my work. The brain is rich, extremely wealthy, we just don't tap in to it more often. Go for it, explore your brain and don't stop, it will surprise you and the world at what you can create.

Keep soaring Liston, you have taken your own bold approach, and you will continue to be rewarded.

The post Building My First Windmill 10 Years Improved My Confidence. Liston Cosmas appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.

This fearless 30 year old is the founder of Young Strong Mothers, an NGO whose main objective is to provide an opportunity for girls and young mothers to address their health, social, legal and economic needs. This is through educating, providing services and strengthening their entrepreneurship skills. This idea was born following the rough life she experienced as a young girl.

I got pregnant at 15 years old. The whole community isolated me. Everyone abandoned me calling me a curse. No one talked to me for months. I was homeless. I lived in the bushes. I gave birth by the roadside with the help of two strangers.

Jackie lost her parents when she was three months old. The only person that accepted her was her grandfather. It was a tough upbringing. There was no money to enroll her to high school after primary school.

Few months after my baby was born, I ran away from home. My grand father had accepted us back months after kicking me out but the poverty and rejection from the community was hard to bear. I joined the street life in Tabora and in Dares salaam for years. It was really tough.

Later on I got a job as a maid for a really great young lady who mentored me and saw my hunger for education. She sponsored me through high school before she relocated to Canada.

Jackie studied hard. Worked part time doing odd jobs in various organizations to provide for her daughter. Her break was getting a secretarial job in a local organization and working her way up managerial level.

My organization has reached 576 girls with 38 girls having graduated from our entrepreneurship course and 15 in vocational training. Others have gone through health hygiene with a main focus on HIV and pregnancy.

Jackie’s vision is to build a center for her organization which is in progress having bought 15 acres of land. She has partnered with the public, various local and international organizations and some arms of the Tanzanian government to build on her vision.

She has been featured widely by the media from BBC, Voice of America and local media. I hugely admire this because I believe the local media MUST get involved in telling the positive influence of young Africans in their communities.

Never give up. I have lived, tasted and breathed the wilderness for far too long but the desire to succeed and to see my daughter succeed was so great. I just had to see it come in to fruition.

I used to survey cars, houses and buildings as a street kid and claim them for my future. Getting selected for YALI RLC was transforming. My thinking is now different. I am a better leader. The connections and networks I made are unbelievable.

Jackie’s call to action is to partner with like minds and help reach hundreds of girls. She is looking to build her team and invites people with the technical know how and capacity building skills to join her team and make Tanzania a safe haven for naive and disadvantaged girls.

Keep up the great work Jackie! you are a great inspiration for young African leaders.

The post Living In The Streets Did Not Break Me- It Made Me Fearless! Jackie Bomboma appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.

After a good conversation with Farhan, I honestly felt like marching those Nairobi streets screaming my lungs out on how we must actively influence our communities- with Yes We Can placards. I thoroughly enjoyed his hunger to positively influence his community.

Farhan studied his BA in Pharmacy at Muhumbili university in Tanzania after which he interned at Muhimbili National hospital upon graduation.

I got employed at John Snow Inc under USAID- SCMS (Supply Chain Management System) and Deliver projects between 2013-2016 and I loved it.

I was born and bred in Tanzania. As a child, I was very different, extremely curious and a science enthusiast. I knew I would end up in the medical or science industry. I love geeky stuff. The geeks change the world. (laughs)

This year I joined ABT Associates NGO  as a governance specialist under a USAID project, Global Health Supply Chain.

Through mentoring and volunteering in his local community, Farhan discovered a gap in leadership skills for the youth.

I started Nje venture to push the youth to venture out of their comfort zones. We do this through sharing opportunities, information on innovation, sustainable development and much more. We do it through a Facebook page, through events and in collaboration with various organizations and NGOs. We have reached hundreds of youth.

As a certified mental health first aid guide, he also started Fikra Afya, a project that creates awareness and gives information on mental health- a taboo topic in most communities in Africa.

I am very fascinated by my other project, BRB (Bring Reading Back) which targets people in urban areas. Most people in urban areas do not read often and hence most libraries are empty. If we must take this continent to the next level, we must read and be aware of our surroundings.

Farhan is an alumnus of Brightest young minds 2015 and YALI 2016, high profile programs that he confesses improved his leadership skills and made him love Africa even more.

Young African leaders should seek information and believe in themselves. Find solutions for issues in your community. Do not forget to share your stories because it helps empower others.

His vision is to empower thousands of young Africans through his organization and become a great ambassador for Africa. We celebrate you Farhan. Keep soaring and impacting thousands of lives.

The post Empowering Young Africans? Of Course I Will Dab To That. Farhan Yusuf appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.

James Leonard is a young African leader who loves his country and swears that he will be part and parcel of building it as a young leader. He is currently serving as the Tanzanian national team leader for AU Club Tanzania that has a vision of facilitating the AU agenda 2063.

James also works for the UN program in Tanzania which deals with vegetable research. He confessed that he must have some Kenyan Kikuyu blood in him because his entrepreneurial spirit has been growing and poking him since childhood.

He is the CEO of Peace foundation, a social enterprise that aims at promoting peace and resolving conflict for different countries in Africa.

James is extremely passionate about children and education. He owns the Leondson primary schools in Tanzania. Through the schools, hundreds of African children from disadvantaged backgrounds have been transformed.

We have kids from different backgrounds. Some are orphans while some are from very poor backgrounds. I work hard and spend most of my earnings to support these children and my team. We are currently looking for support in transportation, food and mattresses for the children as well as volunteers.

When he got selected to YALI, he was super charged and grateful because the program has been customized to transform hundreds of young lives.

YALI is a lifetime opportunity. The standards are high. I learnt to align my vision with that of my country and Africa as a continent. Meeting and connecting with other young leaders from different countries was an honor. It was mind blowing because I would never have known that young Africans are doing life changing projects and are transforming millions of lives.

I have been honored to attend many international programs and this particular experience took the cup.

Young Africans, what do you have in your hands? Where do you live? What is the need? How can you offer a solution for your community? Get out of the worker mentality and start thinking big. Think Africa as a continent. Allow your dreams and vision to shock you. Please disrupt the status quo.

James has a vision of schooling thousands of children through Leondson Schools. He is looking to expand the schools in different parts of Tanzania and to other African countries.

His biggest dream is to see peace prevail in all African countries through the Peace Foundation and to encourage Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu among Africans.

James enjoys traveling and a good ‘ole traditional meal shared with friends while discussing politics. Keep soaring James and making Africa great again.

The post Togetherness For A Better Africa. James Leonard appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.

When I met him at YALI, I was impressed by his gift of storytelling, passion in governance and the love of physical exercise. He started a morning aerobics class and would ensure that every one was participating. And when he was not facilitating the aerobics, he was praying outside our accommodation facility alone at four in the morning!

I tried to run away from his daily cardio trainings as much as possible because I am used to working out three times a week but brother was not having it. He instead encouraged me to wake up daily at four in the morning for his classes.

I must confess I did not attend all the classes but at least I joined seven or eight of them, maybe four or five.… Here I thought I was an exercise freak! Clearly not.

Dhamir whose name means heart conscience grew up in a farm as the 10^th child of Bi Mau, his mother of African and Persian descent. His dream as a child was to become a ship captain or engineer which was inspired by the boats that would dock at Mkoani port where he grew up. He confesses that he had a rough childhood and his family barely afforded two meals a day.

At age five, Ramz was already nurturing his entrepreneurship skills by painting ships that would visit Mkoani and selling the paintings to the captains or tourists. He is grateful to his father who encouraged him, taught him how to draw and was his biggest cheerleader when it came to education.

Upon sitting for his Primary school final exam at Ng’ombeni primary school, Dhamir was one of the two top students who were selected to join and study commerce and book keeping in the special talent class of Utaani Secondary School, Wete Pemba. Dhamir in collaboration with other students in college was the founder of ZIFA Youth Club which had the purpose of supporting the local community.

He was also the member of the cabinet in Zanzibar Institute of Financial Administration Students Organization (ZIFASO) taking the position of the Minister of Communication and Logistics.

He joined the Advanced level class in the School of Business in Zanzibar town. Dhamir later joined Zanzibar Institute of Financial Administration (ZIFA), a government owned college located in Chwaka Zanzibar where he graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Finance.

He has worked as an external auditor in the Audit Department of the Office of the Controller and Auditor General and the statutory Audit Office of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.

He is also the founder of a private business in Tours and Travel, which supports a local orphanage with basic needs and educational materials.

When he witnessed the irregular income, bad policy adoption on education and community, economic deterioration of Zanzibar community due to injustices imposed by the Union government to Zanzibaris, he vowed to work hard and be part of changing his community.

Dhamir is a local entrepreneur and has founded Business Consultancy and Marketing Breeze (BST), a company created to offer simplified business solutions through software design to support the private and government organizations. Some of their products currently in the market are Asset Register, MiniBook and AkibaYangu (for SMEs).

The young African leader says he uses strategy to achieve his vision. He says his current involvement in private business is with an aim of attaining sustainability so that he can support children who are unable to access basic needs and education. His main vision is to be directly involved in policy making and decision making in Zanzibar.

There is a lack of commitment by the Tanzanian government in pursuing a true Democracy, in disregarding the rule of law where justice should have been practiced and this includes rigging of elections in Zanzibar in 1995, 2000, 2005 and the nullification of the 2015 general election of Zanzibar for no apparent reasons.

Other reasons are the never ending corruption scandals that have been rocking the Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland (Richmond in 2009, Escrow in 2014) governments in recent years.

I strive to become a voice that will see off the current Union problems between the two Governments through mediation and reconciliation.

I am driven by the determination to see Zanzibar become economically independent through adoption of the Three Government Union system which will comprise of Zanzibar, Tanganyika and the Union government as a lasting solution to current social and political crisis stimulated by the economic inequality of rights by the partner states. Dhamir said.

Dhamir is grateful for the YALI program and says he is planning to use the information for the benefit of his community and in addressing the political and social problems. To be part of formulating and adopting the policies which have proven successful in other African countries in combating similar issues.

My long time dream is to have a united Africa, where there will be no physical borders and we will all be one. My African Dream is based on our common beliefs, ideologies, social and political issues that are distinctive in our countries. Africa is emerging and is an economic powerhouse.

Just look at the interest other parts of the world have in Africa. Africans must however wake up and know what they have in their hands and I am pretty sure it will shock them. I aim to be among the African Leaders who will make Africa rise again.

To build a house, you need a strong foundation. The same goes into building a strong and a united Africa. We first need to embrace the knowledge of understanding, embrace our differences and then define our objectives and unite them for the execution of our African Dream.

I see myself going to any African state where my origin or nationality will not be a question that lives in the minds of my compatriots.

I always say getting in to politics is a calling from above. The passion that Dhamir exudes for governance is very clear. We wish you the very best Dhamir as you spread your roots deep and soar your wings wide.

The post What Do You Have In Your Hands Africa? Arise! Dhamir Ramz. appeared first on Afrikan Excellence.