As a born African living in America, it has been fascinating to see the phases of the African continent development in the past fifty years,  although, my active involvement has been in the later part of the last  four decades. The participation and participants from within and without has lay claim to the authority of what is perceived as "the way forward", "Doing Business in Africa" or Africa in the 21st century.

It is important to reiterate that the diversity in the nations of the continent makes all these "one size fits all approach" ineffective from its inception; the solution to the multi-facet issues in the African nation in a nutshell requires inputs from the African living in the continent and in Diaspora.

As all road leads to Dar es Salaam for the World Economic Forum on Africa and  most especially the Seventh YGL Annual Summit which happens to be the largest gathering of YGLs.

With the discussions during this Summit ranging from entrepreneurship  and innovation in Africa, empowering change, leadership in Africa,  Africa's missing middle and World Cup. Others topics like the involvement of the African Diaspora in Africa, Nigeria at 50,Democracy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Volunteering and Community service  will be on the radar as well.
 
With this Summit being hosted by the Tanzania President, Jakaya  Kikwete, I hope it will be a great opportunity for other African  leaders to see the hosting of this global event as a way to portray the  progress made by their country, reach out for synergistic or collaborative initiatives and finally engage the young minds.
 
As Tanzania hosts the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa, I say “Tanzania on my mind”.

 Akinwale Ojomo, Managing Editor, EBO Magazine, USA (YGL 2009)