The African Students at City University of New York (CUNY) presents The Young African Leadership Symposium

New York, NY – On September 16th and 17th, 2011, hundreds of students will gather together for the first annual CUNY Young African Leadership Symposium to be held at the Graduate Center for Worker’s Education. This 2-day symposium begins with honoring eight Ambassadors of African countries for their outstanding service to their countries.  For this Ambassador’s networking reception, we invite all to come and network with ambassadors from Gabon, Uganda, Mauritius, South Africa, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzanian, as they are honored for their exemplary work.

These individuals exemplify what it means to be influential African Leaders and it will be a good opportunity for Africans to come out and glean from their experience. 

On September 17th, prominent speakers and young leaders will participate in dialogue about topics including Leadership in the 21st Century, Entrepreneurship ventures and Business incubation in Africa, Social media’s role in social movements, and African Scholarship: Infrastructure and Localization of Knowledge.

The speakers include but not limited to, Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Lecturer on African studies; Dr. Frank Sanchez, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs; Dr. Nada Mustafa Ali, Consultant and lecturer; David Bassiouni Jr, managing director of the Bassiouni Group; Sduduzo Ka-Mbili, a NYC Radio Producer and Dancer; Ethlene Metzger, of NBC; Dr. David Bassiouni, diplomat and CEO of Bassiouni group; and Kambale Musavuli from Friends of the Congo. 

Thanks to the partnership with Arik Airlines, Afromentro, Applause Africa, Rethink, United Nations
Association-SNY Young Professionals African Affairs committee, and Face2Face Africa, the event is made available to all attendants free of charge. 

The African “youth should have the will and faith to use their potential capabilities for the development of Africa. Efficiency and the development of Africa depend on youth empowerment, and the youth need education in various ways and forms, so that they contribute to the development process,” Professor Jean-Pierre Ezin, AUC Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology (HRST) said. 

We this in mind, the first ever CUNY Young African Leadership Symposium is going to be one of the very many “first steps” in engaging youth in a dialogue about Africa in the 21st Century, and where the continent is headed.