Every child is an 🎨rtist
Hello Venturer,
This week, we celebrated two very important things; our continent and its children. In case you missed it, Tuesday, May 25th was Africa Day, and Thursday, May 27th was Children’s Day. At Ventures Africa, our mission is to explore African businesses, culture, and innovation. This means that we celebrate and shine a spotlight on phenomenal people across the continent; artists, entrepreneurs, innovators, and industry leaders, irrespective of their age.
So, this week, in commemoration of Children’s Day, we decided to give you something special. And what is more special than learning from two child prodigies and a child psychologist? 11-year-old Joshua Agboola is an acclaimed programmer and speaker with a history of addressing audiences twice his age.
14-year-old Kareem Olamilekan is Nigeria’s youngest hyperrealist artist. Ever heard of the 11-year-old who drew a portrait of French President Emmanuel Macron in two hours? Well, that was Kareem. He’s 14 now and an internationally recognised artist.
And Temi Olajide is a child psychologist who teaches parents how to be their children’s own psychologist. Sounds interesting? Well, I invite you to dig into these stories and more in this issue of our newsletter.
Hadassah Egbedi
Editor, Ventures Africa
What's new
The VA Pod: Herstory
This week on Herstory, Kenya's first female Chief Justice assumes office and women in rural Namibia earn a living from biodiversity-friendly trade. Listen to this and other stories here.
The future of tech rests on the likes of 11-year-old Nigerian tech prodigy, Joshua Agboola
What do you ask an 11-year-old tech prodigy? What kinds of things do you talk about? He probably knows more about technology and software than you do. (In this case, he definitely does.) How do you begin the conversation? These were the questions I had to answer before speaking with Joshua Agboola (and his dad) for this interview.
14-year-old Kareem Waris Olamilekan’s art journey is bound to inspire you
Kareem’s art often depicts his experiences and those of people around him. From Our Daily Bread to Focus, to Political Compliance, his themes are often socio-cultural and political. His ongoing piece, Pressure, reference the challenges that children his age experience at home and in school. Read more.
Child psychologist, Temi Olajide, share guide to modern parenting
Temi Olajide is a child psychologist and Nigeria’s first certified child sleep training consultant. Pheew! That’s a mouthful. But that’s exactly how she introduced herself when we had this interview. As a child psychologist, Temi works with parents, particularly mothers, to help them understand and get the best out of their kids. Read more.
#AfricaDay: Celebrating Africa’s unfolding film story
With a population of over 1.2 billion people, which approximately accounts for 15 percent of the world’s population, Africa provides a plethora of opportunities as a potential melting pot for development across industries. Yet there is an abundance of invaluable manpower— both physical and intellectual, that’s left untapped across all industries and the creative industry is no exception. Read more.
Vaccinating the shadow pandemic: Notes from the 5th edition of Oando’s webinar series
Speaking on the prevalence of gender-based violence in the country, panellists at the webinar noted that cases of violence against women and girls increased with the commencement of the COVID-19 lockdown last year. Hence the term, “shadow pandemic”, because while the world focused on containing COVID-19, a different pandemic was growing, fuelled by the measures put in place to check the spread of the virus. Read more.
Key highlights from the E-Lab Innova training for agribusinesses in Nigeria
Agrifood structures are undergoing a profound transformation driven by several trends such as urbanization, globalization, technological innovation and even expansion of food markets and trade. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), dealing with these changes requires a perspective that builds on the agrifood value chain operations. Read more.
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