ASPIRING venture capitalist Nyeuvo Amukushu could not contain her joy when called her while zooming into her profile after she was selected as the Queen’s young leaders award recipient last week.
Amukushu (19) and Hilda Nambili Liswani (25) have been recognised by the Queen of England for their work to support young people through entrepreneurship, and involving young people in current affairs.
At this tender age, Amukushu is an aspiring venture capitalist. A venture capitalist is a person who invests in a business venture, providing capital for a start-up or expansion. An investment from a venture capitalist is a form of equity financing, where the venture capitalist provides funding in exchange for an equity position in the company.
Queen Elizabeth will present the Queen’s young leaders award to these two young Namibians at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London on Thursday, 29 June.
The award celebrates inspiring young people from all over the Commonwealth who are dedicated to bringing change in their communities and beyond.
Amukushu and Liswani will be representing Namibia as they join winners from across the Commonwealth in a programme of inspiring meetings, networking opportunities, training and mentoring, all designed to help them develop as leaders and work with a greater impact to transform people’s lives.
Born and raised at Oranjemund, Amukushu is an independent small, medium and micro-sized enterprise (SMME) development consultant, and an aspiring venture capitalist.
She is a first- year bachelor of arts (honours) student majoring in art for advertising and political studies at the University of Namibia.
Amukushu’s aspirations of becoming a venture capitalist grew from her desire to dispel the myth that small businesses fail to grow as she wants to provide funding and incubation institutions and nurture start-ups and SMMEs, and by also providing access to supply chain opportunities.
“In many cases, young Namibians use their own resources to fund activities. Although this is the kind of commitment that will take Namibia forward, aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses in Namibia suffer from the myth of “small business”, and inadequate funding and support.
“Namibians need to embrace start-ups and failure. If we can focus on securing economic opportunities for Namibia’s youth, we will play a critical role in harnessing their power for good,” she said.
Amukushu said she is certain that her passion lays significantly in impacting the economic development landscape of Namibia through smart partnerships and business development.
She is also of the firm view that she can only do this through transforming micro-enterprises in Namibia, especially in the informal sector, by improving their businesses through effective advertising and start-up acceleration methods, which she currently does within her voluntary work at the One Economy Foundation.
Liswani has lived in South Africa, Ethiopia and the UK, and this has given her a better perspective and outlook on the world. This has engendered in her a great sense of curiosity and appreciation of the world, and its richness in diversity.
Liswani is a social innovator whose exceptional qualities resulted in her being chosen as one of two Namibians to win the Queen’s young leaders award for 2017. Her application was one of 3 000 from exceptional young people across the Commonwealth.
Liswani said her two degrees (BA Hons international relations and MSc: migration, mobility and development) have afforded her an invaluable foundation in being able to critically assess and comprehend various issues being faced at both mirco and macro levels.
Her experiences, coupled with her academic, professional and extra-curricula background, have fostered in her a deep sense of passion to facilitating good governance and effective implementation in Africa.
She is a strong believer in democracy, and particularly urges citizens to participate in the nation-building process.
Liswani said the work she embarked on after her graduation is a reflection of her goals to create more equitable societies.
In June 2015, she was among 75 young people chosen from 14 000 applicants, and the first Namibian, to take part in the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations’ (UNAOC) mandate to facilitate multicultural and intersectional dialogue among young people from around the world.
After that, she was invited to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the International African Union youth summit and to Rabat, Morocco for the Mo Ibrahim good governance residential school.
Her leadership skills were further enhanced as she was encouraged to be proactive and self-driven in her pursuit to implement initiatives for social change. In addition, Liswani has been selected as a Tony Elumelu entrepreneur of 2017 out of 93 000 applications from 55 African countries.
She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers, Windhoek Hub, which undertakes events and activities that generate a positive impact within Namibian communities.
Liswani also represented Namibia at the G20 Think 20 Summit in Berlin as a Young Global Changer.
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