David McGuire
Moses Ziyambi
HARARE – Fellows who took part in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)’s Mandela Washington Fellowship program since 2014 will over the weekend take part in a free expo where they will have an opportunity to showcase their achievements.
The expo, which will run under the theme ‘Harness the Hustle’, will take place at Meikles Hotel Rooftop between 09:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs this Saturday.
The young leaders will showcase the businesses, innovations and organizations they have developed after visiting Washington D.C.
Public affairs officer and spokesperson at the United States Embassy, David McGuire recently wrote and highlighted that the free expo will provide a forum for fellows to invite further collaboration from the public.
“Since my arrival in Zimbabwe, I have had the pleasure of witnessing the incredible drive and commitment to their country that Zimbabwe’s fellows represent and I can attest to their contagious spirit. Harness the Hustle, the 2017 YALI Expo is a great initiative by young Zimbabwean leaders to help share that spirit and spur further collaborative growth at home,” McGuire wrote in a local Sunday paper.
The expo will see young leaders with varying success stories in different sectors present their achievements to a wide audience which includes fellows from other African countries.
Zimbabwean fellows started participating in the YALI fellowship in 2012 and since then, about 180 young leaders have taken part in the program.
The expo is expected to set the tone for the 2017 program by which 60 Zimbabweans are expected to go to the US this month.
Those who will be selected to go are expected to gain skills that will help them inspire development back home through a plough back effect.
It takes young people between the ages of 25 and 35 from such categories as entrepreneurship and civic activism for one to be considered for an opportunity to travel to the United States for deployment at various prestigious American institutions where they will receive leadership nurturing for a period of six months.topnews
