Akon Activates Africa

2 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SUMMER 2019 ACTIVATING By Akon According to the U.N., more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. By 2050, that figure will have risen to 6.5 billion people — two-thirds of all humanity. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces. Fromayoungage, I noticed a division between people of different races. I remember going to lunch inmy elementary school’s cafeteria after moving to New Jersey fromDakar, Senegal: The black kids would sit in the far corner, the white kids would sit in the far left, the Chinese on one side, and the Indians on the other. I was this African kid, nappy hair, extremely black, and constantly teased because I had this heavy accent while trying to learn English. I wanted to be accepted, and this feeling of inequality based on where you were from, how you spoke, or what your socio- economic situation was always stuck with me. I started running with the tough kids who accepted me, and naturally, we got into a lot of trouble. While some of those early outcomes didn’t end so well (including a number of run-ins with the law), I learned a sense of loyalty and the importance of going to the wall for people. This is also where I learned the art of the hustle. When you look at many of the media giants today, they, too, have capitalized on their street mentality to make things happen, using instinct to hustle their way into a deal. As my world grew, I learned that to truly succeed, you have to go beyond that basic hustle. You have to level yourself up and surround yourself with even better people who have the skill sets you want to acquire. But at the core, that drive to build something out of nothing, to make a life for yourself when you’re starting at the bottom, is something that you never forget. AKON TAKES ACTION