She is eloquent and does not need written speeches even when addressing high-level gatherings. She is a good negotiator and a critical thinker – a skillset, she says, she acquired all by herself. She was listed in the second publication of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2020 by Avance Media, a Ghanaian PR & Rating company known for its ranking of young people across Africa. She is just 25 and currently serving as deputy minister of Information, Communication and Technology. She is Emma Inamutila Theofelus. But how did she make it to the top that fast? Speaking at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Kigali during a session dubbed “Fireside Chat,” Theofelus said that all she needed to be where she is was to up skill herself beyond the classroom knowledge, and stay focused on her mission. Back home, she is also the youngest Member of Parliament, having entered Parliament at the age of 23. Theofelus has since made it a point to show that being a young woman was not a hindrance to her performance. She said that it is important to never give up. Theofelus’ favourite quote is by author Frantz Fanon: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” She chose not to destroy her youthful times. Theofelus forewent partying hard and focused on working hard to discover her mission in life. “We young people need to be the best experts in the room and do this in many places at all times because they look down on us. Being a young minister, appointed at the age of 23, I get that a lot. You must continuously up-skill yourself,” she said. “I’ve noticed that working in a space of youth activism for a long time before I joined the government. I performed exceptionally well in trying to discover my mission, in actively being involved in conversations and forcefully put myself in because I know the decisions we make today, will shape our realities tomorrow and that’s the future we want to take charge of.” To her, for anyone to make it up in the ranks, they don’t have to relent or quit. “When things get hard on us, we just have to rest and then pivot because our future depends on it. There is no room for us to give up because if we do not take charge today, it might be too late to do so.” “We sometimes have to skip so many steps on the ladder. It’s not quitting. It’s pivoting. When faced with challenges, do not quit. Rest and start over. At the beginning of the pandemic when everything was hard, health systems were failing, young people were committing suicide more than ever before because of the mental pressure that came with loss of income and opportunities, we didn’t quit,” she told delegates at the youth forum. Theofelus challenged youths attending the forum to exploit the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to find a place in decision making processes. “The question still remains; what is our generational mission? CHOGM has a wide range of sub-themes ranging from climate change, education, employment, gender equality, equitable and quantitative access to education. I want to add my own – young people finding a place in decision making processes,” she said. More than 350 youth leaders, entrepreneurs and various development partners attending the 12th edition of the Commonwealth Youth Forum are discussing how the youth of the Commonwealth take charge in shaping a common and shared future. More than 60 per cent of Commonwealth citizens are under the age of 30. Theofelus believes that her generation, as young people trying to find “our mission” and fulfilling it, by taking charge of “our future,” should not quit, but rest, pivot and try again. Beyond classrooms, I needed more skills She reflected on her own journey which started with education, and having the ability to decipher concepts and principles and “applying them across my life.” It is true, she acknowledged, some life lessons are not learnt from school. “When I was doing a law degree, I was barely in class because the concepts I was learning were not fulfilling me. I could gather myself and read by myself because beyond classrooms, I needed more skills,” she said. Theofelus said she needed the skills of critical thinking, how to pitch an idea in three minutes, how to network and negotiate. “Some of these skills I was not able to acquire in the classroom. I had to find ways to acquire them. As we discover our future as young people, we need to continuously up-skill ourselves” she said. The Commonwealth Youth Forum ends Tuesday, June 21. Throughout the last three days of the forum, the youth engaged in networking, exchanging ideas, building skills, and generating solutions to the most pressing youth-related challenges such as unemployment, gender inequality, access to quality education and training. Resolutions from the forum will later be presented to the Leader’s forum.
