Titilayo Akinsanmi’s fierce enthusiasm should strike a cringe chord with many young people in her fashionably cynical generation. Yet her resolve and self-confidence makes you believe this petite Nigerian when she proclaims, ‘I could become the President of the United States if I want to. I can do anything.”
Akinsanmi, 23 – the WSIS Youth Africa Co-ordinator – grew up in Nigeria, but has been living and working in South Africa for the past year. She believes that ICTs will play a role in alleviating poverty in Africa by creating greater employment opportunities for young people.
This conviction is ironic coming from a person whose first encounter with a computer three years ago was far from comfortable. ‘A varsity friend had gotten a laptop computer and I was very curious about it when I saw it. He wouldn’t let me touch it though, because he said I would probably break it, since I couldn’t even handle a mouse!”
Fortunately, she’s become something of an expert since then. She’s been helping to run the hi-tech Open Knowledge Network (OKN) exhibit at WSIS. She is an information manager for OKN in Johannesburg – a Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force) initiative set up by G8 heads of state in an effort to bridge the digital divide.
Speaking of the digital divide, this spirited young Nigerian insists that she doesn’t see a divide. She sees a ‘digital opportunity”. Clearly, it’s an opportunity that she has grabbed with both hands. Akinsanmi is at the helm of a team working to make the voices of young Africans heard at the Summit.
‘We noticed that the Youth Caucus had many voices from the north, but few from the Africa. We knew we had no finances, no funding or anything to be able to bring young people together. So we nursed the potential of the Internet, and came up with an e-consultation which linked up almost 200 youth in East, West, Central, Northern and Southern Africa, and gathered their views.”
The consultation was compiled into a document which was then included in the Youth Caucus presentation at the WSIS preparatory committee meetings (PrepComs). She also leads the Gender Committee on the Youth Caucus. Despite her achievements, Akisanmi is quick to pay tribute to her humble beginnings.
‘I’m the fifth of six children, the daughter of two teachers who earned practically earn a pittance. I didn’t have access to any of this technology. All of this is the result of a personal decision that I would do better than the level I had set myself. Better than the level that my parents had trained me to.”
She describes her childhood as being impoverished. ‘My father lost his job the year I was born. He hasn’t been able to find a job since then. Things were always very difficult at home. I remember going to school and sitting down to write exams hungry because there was simply no food for us.”
She attributes her constant drive for success to the hard times. ‘That’s how we dealt with it. If you’re hungry and you’ve got no food, pick up your books and study,” she laughs.
And her consistent ability to find that elusive silver lining she says, is a defence against the negativity she found around her.
‘All I heard around me was ‘No jobs, no this, no that’. I remember telling my parents that I wanted to grow up and change things. Not just in Nigeria, but across continents. I have to influence the world,” she says waving her hands for emphasis. ‘I’m tired of hearing complaints. I have to do something.”
This fiery young woman plans to take over the world in eight years. ‘I want to be a force to be reckoned with in terms of empowerment. In at least eight years – because I chart my life in small doses,” she says with a confidence that suggests that she’s halfway there already. — Hana