LAGOS: The 2011 International Telecom Union (ITU) Youth Challenge took place at the end of October in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU Youth Challenge is a part of the United Nations, and has hosted an ITU conference every year, with this year marking its first decade. Nigerian youth, such as recent computer science and economics graduate Malik Hossein, hopes the new initiative will help move them from unemployment into new positions in the IT sector. “I really feel strongly about how this will go and with the challenge it means there are opportunities for us to get involved in, especially in IT and technology,” he said. The ITU flew 45 finalists to Geneva to pitch their innovations, which saw six of them walk away with £6,000 each to develop those ideas into products. In the Young Innovators category, an on-the-bus training program from India, text-based job search from Nigeria and cooking-gas locator from Ghana. The youth that flew over spent three days learning about how the telecom industry operates, as well as how to best pitch their ideas. The youth were also granted the opportunity to rub shoulders with politicians and professionals in the industry from around the world. The Youth Challenge was part of the larger ITU conference which is held annually. ITU is a part of the UN Development Group and has 192 member states, as well as over 700 members and associates. BM
