By Frans Ntsoereng

An important 10th-anniversary milestone involves taking a look at where it all began. It was only a question of personal development growth in one’s mind at the time. My imagination could never have predicted that becoming a member of this organization would be beyond my expectations.

Through organizational programs, I developed my professional and personal skills to an extent I had never imagined – giving me the ability to become the man I am today. In essence, I am referring to the experiences one gained on the India trip with global touring; articulate skills gained from module 1; critical thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset gained from SWITCH training.

My vision of the organization for the next 10 years is to see ACTIVATE! being a leading youth movement that brings life to current sectors and breeds future experts that can produce local products that can compete globally.

Take the Agricultural Sector as an example, and the SWITCH programmes: the organization could transition from only providing theoretical content to becoming a provider of real-world work experiences; helping beginners build their own entities from scratch; starting from a pilot phase and moving up to a fully operational phase. It is crucial for activators who are involved in agriculture to be guided with securing their own land and all other related processes until funded. Experts can assist with everything from planting, to when their products are available for sale in the mainstream supply chain.

For entrepreneurs in the SWITCH programe, learning about the business model canvas is not enough. Initiatives must be incubated in some form of practical way. The sustainable nature of these approaches is that those already fully functional will groom those of the same interest as themselves.

Through this approach, job creation and poverty alleviation will be addressed, but also a practical, safe, reliable, and professional learning platform will be created. This will produce stronger networks among us, in agriculture, as those in climate will gain from farmers, and those in entrepreneurship will gain from those in other sectors.