Prosperity Workshop in Bahrain, organised by the Presidency of the
United States of America in partnership with the host government, the
Kingdom of Bahrain, to launch the US growth strategy for Palestine and
the Middle East; a first step in the long journey towards establishing
an enduring future for the region; the West Bank, Gaza, and beyond.
Providing the African perspective upon special invitation from the US
Government, Tony Elumelu, Founder, the Tony Elumelu Foundation and
Chairman, the United Bank for Africa, headlined the summit, speaking on
the opening plenary alongside Christine Lagarde, Managing Director,
International Monetary Fund (IMF); and HE Mohammed Al-Sheikh, Minister
of State & Member of the Council of Ministers, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
to share practical recommendations to unlock future economic prosperity
for the Palestinian people, using what is done at the Tony Elumelu
Foundation as a replicable model for the economic empowerment of young
men and women from the West Bank and Gaza.
Elumelu stressed the urgency and importance of supporting and empowering
young Palestinians to ignite the entrepreneurial ecosystem and
strengthen the Palestinian economy. For stable growth, he reiterated
that young Palestinians must be empowered with jobs and economic
opportunity to contribute meaningfully to their nation’s development.
“I come from Africa; and the reality is that we do have a lot of
similarities with the Palestinian people; especially in the area of
demographic make up. With over 60% of its nearly 5 million strong
population under 30, the young people of Palestine need Jobs Jobs and
more Jobs! Without jobs, there will be no economic hope. Big
corporations and government alone cannot supply the jobs demanded by
Palestine’s demographic pressures. We need SMEs and startups to address
joblessness in the region, create jobs and opportunities in local
communities for millions of our Palestinian young brothers and sisters
to become employed, meaningfully engaged, and full of economic hope,
which in turn leads them away from extremism.”
The renowned investor and philanthropist who is leading by example
through the Tony Elumelu Foundation which has committed US$100m to
empower young African entrepreneurs, called on endowed Middle Easterners
and their philanthropies to step up and become more involved in
empowering the young ones of Palestine. As he explained, “In the 21st
century, we cannot keep relying on western donors to help empower our
own people; we must step up and create a platform where they may partner
with us for scale, just as we are doing at the Tony Elumelu Foundation.”
The Tony Elumelu Foundation annually identities and empowers
entrepreneurs across all of Africa’s 54 countries with non-refundable
seed capital of $5000 each, mentoring and training, and in over five
years, has supported 7,520 young Africans. To resolve joblessness in the
region, Mr Elumelu offered his Foundation’s unique economic empowerment
model to be replicated in Palestine. “Young Palestinian people need
similar opportunities like the ones we currently give young African
entrepreneurs through the Tony Elumelu Foundation. We acknowledge that
given Africa’s huge numbers, we are touching only a top of the iceberg,
but we have seen first-hand how this model transforms individual lives,
families, communities and cities.”
Agreeing with Elumelu on his call for an increased focus on SMEs and
young people, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State Mohammed al-Sheikh,
stated: “The younger population and proper planning is essential to
creating economic prosperity in the West Bank and in Gaza. If you look
at the demographics in the region, it is a young population. As the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia looked to diversify its economy and carry out
the structural changes to be less reliant on oil revenue, this required
real commitment and hard work and buy in from everybody, with
small-to-medium enterprises at the front and center of the Kingdom’s
Vision 2030.”
Elumelu also called on the government to play its own role in supporting
and prioritising the young people of Palestine: “Governments must play
their own role: ensuring good governance is in place, prioritising
infrastructure and the fight against corruption, and creating an
enabling and conducive environment so that when these young Palestinians
get opportunities, they can succeed.”
He continued: “As an investor, something that speaks volumes to me when
I want to chose a country to invest in is this: is the private sector in
that environment doing well? Do they have small and medium scale
enterprises that are flourishing? This to me is the real signal of how
successful my investment will be because what it is good for local
investors is good for international investors. If economic conditions
for local investors are not favorable, they can’t be for foreign
investors. Government must ensure that local SMEs thrive to signal to
global investment community that Palestine is open for business.”
Joining Elumelu in advising on the role of the government in creating a
conducive environment for the private sector, Christine Lagarde, MD, IMF
added, “We have seen a pressing need for capacity development in the
field of public finance management, central bank strength and domestic
revenue mobilization. These are the background in which private sector
can have a predictable environment within which they can operate.
Advising development agencies on a more inclusive model for even greater
impact, Elumelu stated: “Development agencies should also not sit in
their offices abroad to design growth programmes and strategies for the
Palestinian region, but must ensure that the people of Palestine are
actively involved in pulling their people out of poverty. Development
agencies must assist in a strategic manner, working with local partners
who understand local nuances, so that the over $19 billion spent so far
by the World bank and allied institutions on innovation and
entrepreneurship is more impactful, transforms more lives and addresses
the real issues on ground.”
In conclusion, the founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation commended the
US Government for this timely initiative and intervention but counseled
on the importance of longevity and sustainability. “For what we are
gathered here to be sustainable, endure over time and lead to sustained
prosperity, we must involve the Palestine people. Until we collectively
agree that any economic plan we put in place for Palestine and the
region must be anchored by and on the small and medium scale enterprises
to be permanent and fundamentally address the issues, we will continue
to rely on quick fixes. We must prioritise inclusive growth that brings
all to the table – women and youth especially – which in turn will
create more hope and beget more security and peace. To achieve this,
there must be collaboration between the Palestinian people, friends of
Palestine, neighbours of Palestine, and led by the wealthy and endowed
elite in the Middle east, to work together to economically empower young
Palestinians. It is not too difficult a task for us to touch significant
numbers out of the 2-3 million youth in the region.”
He continued, “The Tony Elumelu Foundation is ready to deploy our
expertise in collaboration with the wealthy elite from the Middle East
region, to create an affirmative plan, and send a strong message of hope
for the Palestinian young people. If we prioritise them and create the
right future for them, we will signal a new beginning in this part of
the world. Only then will we achieve security and peace permanently
because these young people will become inclusive stakeholders and the
true champions of prosperity.”