Career Fair at the Andrew Young Center Young for Entrepreneurship in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire February 5, 2020
Alumni from U.S. exchange programs were amongst panelists and organizers for a “Career Day” attended by 80 technical institute/vocational high school students, their teachers and administrators in Abidjan at the Andrew Young Center for Entrepreneurship. Keynote speaker Marjorie St. Lott, CEO of Uber Côte d’Ivoire, described how her business career evolved through a constant desire to learn and seize opportunities, broadened by her Ivoirian-Haitian roots and Canadian upbringing and education. Six panelists described launching successful businesses and careers in recycling, media, finance, and IT and encouraged students to look around for opportunities and take the road less travelled when building their careers and problem-solving skills. One Fulbright Public Policy Fellow, and three English Teaching Assistants (ETA), and the visiting W Africa coordinator for the ETA program whose video clips of Senegalese entrepreneurs brought a regional flavor to the audience, made the afternoon a success. Two English Language Fellows led parallel workshops for students to assess their personal communications and learning styles, and saw “good” and “bad” resume and interviewing examples. A google doc site, Facebook group, and survey follow-up are in the works. The event will be posted on Public Affairs Section (PAS) Abidjan’s Facebook site and Business 24 covered the entire afternoon’s events.