Japan, like France, seeks Africa talent salvation

Shinzo Abe, Japan Prime Minister

The FIFA World Cup 2018 was a great lesson to the world.

It was eventually won by France with a team that was dominated by players of African origin.

And it lent credence to statements by some that Africa is truly the future of the world and that African talent will soon be determining world trends.

Maybe bearing this in mind, the same France that rode on Africa’s back to ultimate success at the world’s greatest soccer tournament, recently issued a request for 1,000 African ideas on the city of the future, a call that became necessary because the world is in an environment management crisis and the best brains of the west seem stumped on how to come up with the solutions to sustainable cities.

So, not willing to jump on the bandwagon only when it’s already late, Japan too has decided to start utilizing African talent and on December 19, a seminar to highlight the potential of African students to Japan was held at JICA Nagoya Global Plaza.

Japanese companies in Chukyo  (Nagoya and its neighboring area) which have employed African students, and African students who have working experience in Japanese companies made presentations, sharing their experiences as a good practice and exchanging their views on business opportunities in Africa.

More than 150 participants attended, mainly representing Japanese companies and African students in the Chukyo area.

It was co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with a support of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and took place at JICA Nagoya Global Plaza from 13:30 to 16:30 p.m. on December 19.