“i-Boot Camp, where the i serves as a reminder that at YALDA we are here to inspire youth to innovate and implement ideas that will have a positive impact on our beloved African continent”

The YALDA 2018 i-Boot Camp will be held from 24th – 28th October, 2018 and will engage and empower 350 youth to build viable and sustainable digitally savvy enterprises across African borders in a high intensity and fast-paced environment, thereby enhancing rapid digitization from the bottom-up. The i-Boot Camp will incorporate YALDA’s previous i-Boot Camp structures encompassing four key areas: industry specific panel discussions; IDEA labs; workshops focused on refining ideas and refining skills, and site visits to youth-led projects and businesses across Morocco.

As communication is a very vital part of rapid digitisation, we want to ensure that all brilliant ideas from all over the continent are shared and that language is not an impediment. All documents and summary presentations will be available in multiple languages. Additionally, YALDA will continue to offer e-participation that we recently offered at the YALDA 2016 i-Boot Camp that was held in Cameroon. This will allow delegates who are unable to travel for whatever reason the chance to register and participate online through audio live streaming, video streaming, online communications/feedbacks including live feeds on various social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, MindMixers and Vimeo.

First and most importantly, the i-Boot Camp serves as a space for youth to come together to share, develop or expand tangible ideas. Starting with the site visits, young people will learn first-hand what it takes to use technology in a beneficial way and learn about the challenges young people like them have faced and how they translated these into successful initiatives. The following days of the i-Boot Camp will be filled with activities that allow the delegates to share and refine their distinctive ideas within a very short time frame on a very demanding schedule with required daily written assignments that are expected to be completed before registration for the following days activities. Additionally, the various workshops and seminars will give youth the avenues and direct them to resources to bring their ideas to fruition in their respective countries and beyond.

Delegates will be given an opportunity to then present unique ideas to industry experts for constructive feedback during the industry panel sessions, in which they will also receive further leads for more support in the idea implementation stage. The industry specific panel sessions will not only educate participants on opportunities arising from technology in various sectors but will also sensitize youth on the stakes involved when it comes to their specific industries potential that can be unleashed. Some of the best ideas/initiatives under the respective panels will be rewarded with a sponsorship package to kick-start the initiative in the community of the winner while promoting the very theme of the i-Boot Camp. Through these many sessions, delegates will have an opportunity to network with Africa’s leading professionals across various sectors and build relationships with their peers from different countries. In turn, this will enable delegates to build expansive knowledge sharing networks in order to leverage Africa’s rapid digitisation and position delegates for success in and beyond their home countries.

Undoubtedly, at YALDA we believe the crux of this i-Boot Camp is to enable young Africans to take advantage of the rapid digitisation occurring all over the continent and ultimately, to have an Africa developed by Africans. Creating awareness is the strongest foundation for prosperity. Thus, by sharing lessons from past experiences and developing enterprises to address the technological advancements that are being made and can be made in the future, young people will be instrumental in strengthening digital development and synchronising efforts for a technologically integrated Africa thereby contributing to the prosperity of our African continent!