Developing young people for a connected world

Every year for almost twenty years now, the Mail & Guardian has selected 200 top young South Africans and featured their stories of resilience, hope and perseverance, and creative and innovative thinking.

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By all accounts, getting down to just 200 is an arduous task, as there are many exceptional entries.

What this tells us is that South Africa has no shortage of young talent, but for every featured successful young South African in these pages, there are many more who, while not without talent, lack the opportunity, skills and tools that they need to participate in today's connected world and competitive job market. Africa is an extremely young continent, and it would be a travesty if our ambitious, tech savvy young people were not only unable to participate in the economy of our continent but were denied the opportunity to have a voice in shaping its future.

In a world increasingly shaped by technology, connectivity is no longer a luxury, it is the key to opportunity. For young people and for their futures, access to connectivity can mark the difference between realising their potential sometime in the future, or never at all.