The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia - Excellency Jeremiah Kpan Koung

Honorable Minister of Commerce and Industry - Amin Modad

Honorable Minister of Education - Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah

Members of the Faculty Senate, Faculty, Staff, and Students of the University of Liberia

Members of the UniPod Steering Committee

Jean Marius Yaom Chief Executive Officer, Orange Liberia

Luther D. Jeke, Chief Executive Officer, iCampus Liberia

Members of the Press

Distinguished Ladies & Gentlemen

I am delighted to join you to celebrate the launch of this solar-powered UniPod Facility, which is a product of the UNDP Africa Timbuktoo Initiative, it involves more than 10 countries, including Liberia, Benin, Guinea Conakry, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.

Hon. Vice President, distinguished guests, the UniPod is part of UNDP Liberia’s commitment to supporting inclusive growth in Liberia, leveraging innovation at scale to provide substantial value addition to country-level SDG efforts. 

The project is being implemented as a result of UNDP’s collaboration with the University of Liberia, Orange Liberia, and iCampus and further manifests UNDP’s mechanism in fostering partnerships with private sectors and other stakeholders to accompany Liberia’s development process.   The UniPod also speaks to the UNDP principal development mandate, which supports countries in reducing poverty, and inequalities, and ensuring inclusiveness.

With the high rate of fertility and slow demographic transition, to achieve the SDGs investments have to focus on social services, education, health, human capital development, and innovation. We are convinced that the large youthful and dynamic population could be an asset for transformative growth by tapping into Liberians' innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to promote and foster innovative, business solutions to address youth unemployment in the country.

Hon. Vice President, distinguished platform guests, ladies, and gentlemen, I believe, that what we are launching here today is the birth of a new revolution that will allow young Liberians to dream about and create Liberian-made enterprises and solutions that will transform this country, Africa and the rest of the world. To the young people of Liberia, I say, this is your opportunity to make the Liberian dream of shared and inclusive prosperity a reality through your ideas and innovations. You now have the opportunity to nurture your ideas and produce startups that can become meaningful enterprises that would greatly contribute to Liberia’s job creation and economic growth.

I want to thank the Government of Liberia for its dedication and partnership in making this project a reality. I also want to highlight the importance of the partnership between UNDP, the University of Liberia, Orange Liberia, and iCampus and call for continuous commitment to delivering technical and financial resources to ensure the success of the UniPod. I also want to open the door to new partners, particularly the private sector realizing that each partner brings added value to this UniPod through their technical contribution and ability to mobilize additional networks and financial resources.

Hon. Vice President distinguished platform guests, ladies, and gentlemen, I want to assure you that this innovative project we are launching today will help the government fulfill its pledge to train 10,000 youth with digital skills and spur job creation for the young people of Liberia. We therefore call on the government and all its partners to join hands in keeping this dream alive.  It complements our shared commitment toward building skills for future jobs, unlocking the sustainable development potential of Liberia, talking skills gap, building human capital, and leveraging the power of digital innovation for productive transformation.

I look forward to seeing this Liberian UniPod in action and contributing to Liberia’s economic growth, in areas such as product development, emerging fintech, food-tech, software, and data startups

Thank you.