Youth and the Green Economy

It was a perfect sunny Friday morning, 26 July 2013, as my colleagues and I made our way to Sandton Convention Centre. The traffic from Pretoria was playing along so we managed to get to the Youth and the Green Economy Seminar just after 9am.

Mr Malusi Gigaba, Minister of Public Enterprises, did the opening speech.He raised a lot of relevant issues that aspiring 'greentrepreneurs' have to deal with like access to funding.

Mr Pandelani Dzughudza, Deputy Director within the sector Education, Training and Development at the National Department of Environmental was next to take the podium. The Youth Strategic objectives of the Department is:

• To strengthen the capabilities of young people to realize their potential through skills development.
• To strengthen the culture of patriotic citizenship through rendering of services in disadvantaged communities.
• To ensure that the young people play a part in the development of the country.
• Provide environmental education and awareness in schools and communities.
• To contribute to conservation and protection in the environment.

One of my highlights was listening to a highly informative presentation by Dr Mbileni who is responsible for Green and Sustainable Development Projects at the Innovation Hub. The Innovation Hub's intelligent community has become a regional centre of innovation and knowledge creation, linked to the fast-moving world of global interconnectivity. The Innovation Hub has created a unique space for high-tech entrepreneurs, world-class businesses, academics, researchers and venture capitalists to meet network and prosper. It's value-adding business support services contribute to the growth and globalisation of technology-rich enterprises in an environment that promotes innovation and enhances competitiveness for knowledge-based businesses.

I so look forward to working with the Hub in the not too distant future.

Ella Bella looking at the world through green lenses. She delivered an engaging talk.

Some of the nuggets of wisdom and challenges that Ella Bella, co-founder of Miss Earth SA and Generation Earth, left us with are the following 'green nuggets'.

1. "How are we gonna bring together people,planet,profit?"
2. "African solutions for African problems."
3. "The youth are not the future; they are the present."
4. Solution:"Miss Earth SA planted over 20 000 trees"
5. "There is no Planet B", the final worlds of the moving documentary, outlining the disastrous impact of humans on the natural environment, that she started her presentation with.

Lunch with my colleagues at Sandton Convention Centre after the seminar

I took so much knowledge and inspiration from the day's speakers. However, enough inspiration it is time to apply all the knowledge and make it work for all of us.