The Transform Africa summit that just concluded in Kigali was strong on involving young people in the process of innovation and development.
Over 70% of East Africa’s population is young and Uganda leads that pack, yet, there was hardly any representation of Uganda's young people on the summit’s panels.
Lynn Kirabo was the only young Ugandan panelist at the Transform Africa summit, a gathering of over 3000 delegates. She is a technology enthusiast that graduated from the Prestigious Carnegie Mellon University on a scholarship offered by the Rwandan government.
According to Kirabo, investing Ugandan youths with skills that will help them compete favourably with others from more prosperous countries could help kickstart local economies into competing in a technology dominated landscape.
Kirabo adds that it is not enough for governments to say they are prioritising ICT and youths empowerment in this area, they have to go the full distance and initiate programmes, allocate funding and empower institutions that will ensure the success of these efforts.
Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda's ICT minister who was also attending the summit, says is looking beyond building the ICT infrastructure by encouraging technological innovation among the youths in the country.
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame whilst speaking at the Heads of States conference yesterday decried the lack of investment into young people.
On Friday, Leaders closed the three day summit that was seeking smart solutions for smart cities