OMG! Youth Spaces Get Multi-Talented Friends From Dubai!

GHE Youth Spaces will have an Arabian taste this year — or should we say a global one? This week we had a call with Alanna Turpin who leads sustainability and culture efforts at the Omnicom Media Group (OMG). Their Dubai office is eager to support Youth Spaces in 2024, with a substantial donation and with the talents on their team.

Looking for a challenge for the experts working at their office, Alanna found the Congo Nile Trail, and through it our tour company. Since they first climbed Kilimanjaro many years ago, they have been sending their teams to adventurous activities on an-almost-annual basis. For their tenth outing they opted for Volcano Quest, our three-day hike from Lake Bunyonyi to Mgahinga, followed by a climb of the park’s highest peak shared by Uganda and Rwanda. To top it all, they wished to add a day of volunteering, and Youth Spaces were an obvious choice.

But that idea is getting bigger! We are discussing OMG getting digitally involved in the program even before they fly in this August. With 27 team members who specialise in business acumen, data-driven analytics, marketing, search engine optimisation and (social) media, they have a world of experience to pass on.

The program will cover environmental sustainability, effective communication, business management and more. Further enhancing the impact, OMG may share valuable wisdom through case studies and fund winning projects. The idea is to begin as early as April, and once the details are sorted out we will update you immediately.

It is as if OMG spiritually heard a recent call from our region … In December we again united young leaders on Lake Burera’s Cyuza Island, for a friendship camp of 16 Rwandan and Ugandan participants (Congolese elections stopped our friends from there). We left moved by a Youth Spaces alumni Maxime Kabanda‘s successful employment of single mothers through his quinoa project. We crossed our fingers praying that in 2024 we would reach more inspiring entrepreneurs — and with OMG’s involvement, this year’s Youth Spaces promises to be a new transformative journey towards our region’s sustainable future.

photos from the Youth Spaces Christmas Camp 2023