Huruma Bantfu

At our Building Bridges 🇨🇭 Action Day Session on 'Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building in Africa' we emphasised the narrative that we must do more to shift the mindset that Africa is a difficult place to do business.  ‘Africa has over 18% of the world’s population but attracts only 2% of global capital, and even less global venture capital for start-ups. We are here today, because this needs to change, Entrepreneurship is Africa’s catalyst for change’ 🦋 🐝 🌻 🌞 #BuildingBridges2024 #ImpactEconomy #CorporatePhilanthropy #AfricanUnionAgenda2063 #TheAfricaWeWant

African Youth-Centric Opportunities 2025 🦋🌱🌻🐝🌞☀️🦜 1. Call for Applications - Charles R. Wall Young African Policy Fellows Program 2025 Location: Africa Deadline: 15th January 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/d4MicqAw 2. Call for Applications - The RestorLife Awards 2025 Location: Global Deadline: 28th February 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/dC5RtaKx 3. Call for Proposals - Innovative Climate with-Biodiversity Positive Program 2025 Location: Global Deadline: 13th February 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/d2NmF_iD 4. Call for Applications - 2025 Tony Elumelu Foundation BeGreen Africa Entrepreneurship Programme. Location: Africa Deadline: 31st March 2025 Link: https://www.tefconnect.com 5. Call for Application - 2025 Centre for Green Growth’s Training for Youth on Climate Adaptation and Leadership. Location: Global Deadline: 29th January 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/d_2Q5FfK 6. Reminder Call for Applications - 2025 UNDP/Samsung Generation17 Programme Location: Global Deadline: 5th January 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/db4Fqfr6 7. Call for Applications - Media Literacy Training for West African Young Professionals Location: West Africa Deadline: 15th January 2024 Link: https://lnkd.in/dA7HEZWn 8. Call for Nominations - The Commonwealth Peace Prize 2025 Location: Commonwealth Countries Deadline: 17th January 2025 Link: https://lnkd.in/dJXfav6B #Agenda2063 #TheAfricaWeWant #AfricanDevelopment #YouthCentricOpportunities

Opportunity Alert: JIAS Writing Fellowship 2025 📢 📢 The Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) invites applications for its ninth Writing Fellowship program, running from April 1 to June 30, 2025. This year’s theme, Global Blackness, celebrates the diversity of Black experiences and intellectual traditions worldwide. 📌 Why Apply? JIAS offers a unique environment for interdisciplinary exploration and creative work, supported by: ✔️ Round-trip airfare to Johannesburg ✔️ Private accommodation & weekday meals ✔️ A monthly stipend of ZAR 90,000 (taxable) ✔️ Enrichment activities & access to UJ facilities 📚 Who Should Apply? 🌍 Established scholars, creatives, and thought leaders—especially those from the Global South 💡 Applicants with or without a PhD but with strong portfolios of research, writing, or creative practice 📝 Applications Close on January 4, 2025 🔗 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dxB-Me2U University of Johannesburg #GlobalSouthOpportunities #JIASFellowship #GlobalBlackness #AcademicOpportunities #WritingFellowship #CreativeScholarship #GlobalSouthScholars #FellowshipAlert #InterdisciplinaryResearch

By resolution 57/265 the United Nations General Assembly, on 20 December 2002, established the World Solidarity Fund, which was set up in February 2003 as a trust fund of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 🇺🇳 Its objective is to eradicate poverty and promote human and social development in developing countries, in particular among the poorest segments of their populations. International Human Solidarity Day is: 🌻a day to celebrate our unity in diversity; 🦜a day to remind governments to respect their commitments to international agreements; 🌱a day to raise public awareness of the importance of solidarity; 🌞a day to encourage debate on the ways to promote solidarity for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals including poverty eradication; 🦋a day of action to encourage new initiatives for poverty eradication. ‘an injury to one - is an injury to all’ ‼️ #GlobalSolidarity #HumanityFirst #CareEconomy #HumanCare #SolidarityEconomy #UbuntuBathoPele

🚨 We're hiring! We are on the lookout for a Program Officer to support transformative initiatives in Kenya and Uganda. The Program Officer will support our 3-year "Thriving through Play" initiative, which promotes children’s mental health and well-being through play-based interventions in refugee and host communities in Kenya and Uganda. If you're passionate about mental well-being, children’s rights, and grassroots leadership, this is your opportunity to make an impact. 🌍 Location: Kenya or Uganda 🔗 Apply now: https://bit.ly/4f6mbOx 🕒 Deadline: December 31, 2024

At our Building Bridges Action Day on ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building in Africa’ convened in Geneva, Switzerland 🇨🇭 We indicated that by 2030, over 40% of the global youth population will be African and by 2050, the number of African youth is expected to reach 830 million. This growth trend is exciting, given the potential for young people in the entrepreneurial landscape and workforce to unleash a demographic dividend that positively transforms millions of lives, globally 🌻🌱🐝🦋 ‘Africa boasts the world’s highest rates of entrepreneurship, with more than 1 in 5 working-age Africans starting a new business and more than three-quarters of the youth planning to start one within five years’ 🌞🦆🦜 #BuildingBridges2024 #ImpactEconomy #AfricanUnionAgenda2063 #TheAfricaWeWant

🔉 Highlights from the #BuildingBridges24 Summit! 🌍 "In frontier markets today, the perception of sustainability has changed. Everything we do now has an impact element because it not only makes economic sense, but people also truly understand the real-world consequences." – Uche Orji, Non-Executive Director - The Private Infrastructure Development Group.🌿

How can we bridge the “nature finance gap”? Speaking at the fifth annual Building Bridges Summit in Geneva – an annual gathering of policymakers and leading thinkers from finance, climate and nature – Michael Urban, PhD, Lombard Odier’s Chief Sustainability Strategist, outlined how the globalisation of food production has led to “complex, fragmented value chains”. Watch the video and discover why he believes this has created an “uneven power structure” that is hampering the financing needed to transition to nature-positive agriculture. #BB24 #buildingbridges #sustainability #rethinksustainability #rethinkeverything #lombardodier

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." - African proverb     That is one of the take aways I got from attending the Building Bridges event ''aligning finance sustainability''. I also had a great time connecting with people with the same mindset! This conference had insightful workshops on impact investing, systemic change, emerging markets, and climate & energy. It was especially great to speak to the future generation of leaders from the The Villars Institute Fellows (Luana Berthold, Maksim Beyens, Mario Garrido Ruiz) and hear their reflections after attending this conference. It is great for the Villars Insitute to provide such an opportunity to their fellows. I shared with them, one of the best advice I received: ''your greatest wealth is not in your bank account, but in the network of people who will inspire you and help you reach your purpose'' Thank you to the Huruma Bantfu team Sandile Tshabalala (he/him) and Mbali Khumalo, sharing the great work of Huruma Banftu supporting entrepreneurs across the African continent. Thank you to Professor Erik Stam, from the Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship, for sharing insights on the diversity of African entrepreneurship ecosystems and sharing their index: https://lnkd.in/eaXtndTx #BuildingBridges2024 #Africanentrepreneurship #collaboration

At our Building Bridges Action Day session on 'Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building in Africa' in Geneva, Switzerland 🇨🇭 Marumo Nkomo Economic Counsellor and Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the World Trade Organization indicated that 'Africa is a continent rich in potential and driven by innovation. One of the most significant opportunities is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Creating a single market of 1.2 billion people and a GDP exceeding $3 trillion, AfCFTA is set to redefine Africa’s economic landscape' 🌻 🌞 🦋 🐝 'Building entrepreneurial ecosystems is not merely about fostering economic growth; it is about creating pathways for inclusion, innovation, and resilience. We can build an Africa that is not only a participant in the global economy but a leader, innovator, and change-maker' 🪺 African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat African Development Bank Group #BuildingBridges2024 #ImpactEconomy #AfricanUnionAgenda2063 #TheAfricaWeWant