The Young African Is Not A Lost Case; "The Emmanuel Apetsis" Are Blazing The Trail
With literally thousands of the nation`s university
graduates consigned to unemployment and several thousands of senior high school
leavers jobless, it smacks of a superior attitude and ingenuity when a young
person chooses to chart a noble course for himself (or herself) and for the
good of society.
For the
most part, young achievers have been associated with young Westerners who have
chalked unparalleled feats. Relatively little is said about young achievers in
Africa. The reality is that, amidst the gloom and doom, some young Africans have
taken their destinies into their own hands and are challenging the status quo;
accomplishing feats of monumental proportions. Their exploits are an attestation
that the drudgery notwithstanding, there is still hope for Africa; the next
generation isn`t down and out.
It was
William Shakespeare who once wrote, “Some are born great, some achieve
greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Hypothetically, if you
come from this part of the world and are considered great in the eyes of the
world, it is most likely because you achieved it and not because you either
were born into it or had it thrust on your shoulders. That said permit me to
share briefly the story of a youngster who was neither born great nor had
greatness thrust upon his shoulders. In my estimation, he achieved it as
exemplified in the carefully crafted words of the renowned poet and novelist,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “…while their (his) companions slept at night, were
(he was) toiling upward into the night.”
Barely two
weeks ago, I got acquainted with Emmanuel Apetsi, a Ghanaian self –taught
programmer and I was impressed, to say the least. He introduced me to Wizbook.net
(now Africanwiz.com), a social media site he had developed with a specific
focus on the African continent. He invited me to create an account with the
site. I
subsequently logged in to his site with my Google account. To say I was awed is
an understatement. My admiration knew no bounds when I discovered Emmanuel is
only 20 years old, a senior high school leaver and a self-taught programmer. I
soon got to know he led a team of like-minded talented youngsters to create
this social media application within the space of more than a year and which
they subsequently launched on the 31st of December, 2015. To me,
this represented genius, ingenuity, initiative, innovation, drive and
determination.
I created an account for myself on wizbook.net and soon
received a great and warm welcome from Emmanuel and a few other ‘wizbookers.’ I
soon began customizing my page. The more I engaged with the various tools on
wizbook.net, the more I felt this phenomenal feat deserves mention and support.
There and then, I resolved to write this piece.
One of the traits I
find striking about Emmanuel Apetsi and his team is their commitment to
continuous learning and improvement on their social media site. Only yesterday,
I received an email informing me of a change in name and considerable changes
in the site`s tools and features. Apparently, wizbook.net had been rebranded
and its usage experience significantly improved. This became apparent when I
logged into the rebranded site, africanwiz.com. I was told some kind of research
was conducted which informed the rebranding exercise. I was not the least
disappointment since this new name represented in an unambiguous fashion the
primary target audience of Emmanuel`s creation. While the primary focus is
connecting great and talented minds in Africa, the experience it promises is
top-notch. It became visibly clear to me that africanwiz.com was indeed an
upgraded and higher version of Emmanuel Apetsi`s earlier creation. The tools
and features are fantastic and easy to use. And Emmanuel and his team by no
means consider themselves to have arrived yet but are constantly working to
improve the functionality of africanwiz.com. To them, they have only just
begun. The best is yet to come.
If ever you think Africa is a lost case and that the African
youth has a bleak future, you better think and think again. ‘The Emmanuel Apetsis’
are forging ahead with tenacity and weathering the storm. Africanwiz.com has
come to stay, charting new paths and breaking records in the social media
landscape in Africa. Emmanuel and his team will be thrilled to have you stop by
one of these days. I have and I am enjoying every bit of the experience.
Written by Daniel Dela Dunoo
Freelance writer, blogger, published
author, professional marketer and the founder of Top-notch Writing Solutions,
Ghana.
Blog: http://danieldeladunoo@gmail.com /
http://theroyalwordsmithgh.wordpress.com
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ReplyDeleteGreat piece. I however think the date of launch should be 2015, not 2016.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mawuli. You observed rightly. Thanks for the correction...I have effected the change.
ReplyDelete