Guest blog by Daniel Mwingira

Every entrepreneur needs to be aware of and seize emerging opportunities in the innovation age as they arise. But, how accessible are these opportunities to young entrepreneurs? Where do young entrepreneurs get their information? And can they access a support system in the early days of their venture? These are some of the questions we need to tackle to encourage more youth to seize emerging innovative opportunities, for example in the energy domain.

Sisty Basil, Energy Change Lab Coordinator in Tanzania, challenged Tanzanian youth during the 2018 Energy Safari to consider creating strategic expert networks and testing the viability of their business ideas without fear to fail. He pointed out that fear to fail and resulting hesitance to try out new ideas was a fatal flaw for youth with great ideas.

the Safari was a remarkable opportunity that provided a platform for me to network and learn about solar energy, I plan to pass on the acquired knowledge to educate women in Serengeti engaged in agricultural practices to use renewable energy and modern electric appliances to irrigate their farms - Neema Samweli

The 2018 Energy Safari held in Arusha, Tanzania, attracted a multi-disciplinary group of 30 youth, mostly from Arusha and surrounding districts. Neema Samweli, a participant from the Serengeti region says she came across the opportunity to join the Safari on the Opportunities for Africans website; a good example how youth can use the internet to access out of reach opportunities.

She says, ‘the Safari was a remarkable opportunity that provided a platform for me to network and learn about solar energy. I plan to pass on the acquired knowledge to educate women in Serengeti engaged in agricultural practices to use renewable energy and modern electric appliances to irrigate their farms’.

Judging from her past experience as a youth leader in various programs, Nuria Mshare, the Energy Change Lab Youth Programme Manager, acknowledged that the Energy Safari was an exceptional and practical programme compared to other youth programmes she has been part of. The Safari surpassed her expectations and reinstated her belief that Tanzanian youth are capable of solving wicked problems if well nurtured and properly mentored.

Read the complete blog in Swahili here written by Daniel Mwingira

Daniel Mwingira is a Tanzanian journalist based in Dar es Salaam. He is a co-founder of Nukta Africa Limited, a digital media start-up which owns three products: Hewani (Radio/audio services app), Chapisha (free online publication platform) and Nukta (www.nukta.co.tz, a Swahili news site covering innovation, business, data and Safari).