The event, which was the first of its kind, formed part of the 2018 China Entrepreneurship and Innovation Festival, aimed at giving Africa a voice to tell its own story and the story of its people through a series of well-thought activities.

By bringing the China-Africa dialogue down to the people-to-people level, the Africa dialogues 2018 also sought to provide background knowledge about Africa in order to enhance mutual understanding between China and Africa and, therefore, contribute to strengthening the bond between the two partners.

A release issued to the Ghana News Agency on, Tuesday, in Accra,  said the event was also to brand and position Africa’s quest for a prosperous and peaceful continent driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.

It said the Africa Dialogues 2018 also stemmed from the need for Africans to speak up and present the positive side of Africa; while giving insights of how China could play a role in the development of the continent.

“For a very long time, Africa has been described as a dark continent, a jungle and perhaps a continent full of backward people,” it said. “Yet, people who have experience living and growing up in the continent have a different picture in their minds.”

Ms Tania Romualdo, Ambassador of Capo Verde to China, people-to-people exchanges in promoting positive images about both Africa and China, and enhancing mutual understanding, was very important.

“We need to learn to listen, observe, understand and share. Only then will we be able to respect the differences and find the most valuable treasures on earth – friendship, harmony and peace”.

She commended the organisers of the dialogue, saying one of the many ways of achieving this is by organising events such as the Africa dialogues.The Founder of Kente and Silk and the Beijing-Africa Week, Ms. Zahra Baitie from Ghana, said: “Let us embrace what makes us Africans, let us Sankofa -  return to the past, to who we are and decide for ourselves the future we want, and let us and the world know we are capable…”

She said Africans should project their “Africaness” and also  embrace their identity in order to invent a future that was modern and suited to who they were and not what other people told them to be.

She said: “We are, because the future is African.”

Ms Nyina-mugasha, a writer, illustrator and fashion icon from Uganda, said there were three major areas African needed to focus on: having a voice, recognising their opportunities and creating and manifesting themselves.

She explained: “Being creative means solving a problem in a new way. It means changing your perspective. Being creative means taking risks and ignoring doubt and facing fears.” She said there were some inspiring young African people in her surroundings, who were successfully taking the risks in Beijing and were showing the uniqueness of Africa through their creative works.

A Moroccan, Mr Badr Benjelloun, Owner and Director of Operations at Caravan Bar and Restaurant, in Beijing, said there were gaps that existed between how most people saw Africa and how the continent really was.

He attributed that to the biased and highly incomplete picture of the continent to the media portals and said there was the need to change that incomplete picture into a fuller one. Ms Mariatu Kargbo, China’s top African performer, said, “…We must remain humble in success and work faithfully to give back to the communities from which we came...”

Ms Jenny Zhao from China, Founder of Zolors Technologies, Zolors Mining and Fine Jewelry, said: “From our company's experience, most of our staff, including our staff from Africa, requires extensive training, both technical training and language training to overcome the cross cultural barrier, and to overcome the issues caused by different education systems. So, more training programmes to build the bridges would be good.”

Also in attendance at the conference were the Namibian Ambassador in China, Dr Elia Kaiyamo, Mr McArios A. Akanbong, Minister/Head of Chancery at Ghana Embassy in China, and Minister-Counselor at Ethiopian Embassy in China, Mr. Samuel Fitsumbirhan.

The event was graced with more than 150 participants, Africans, Chinese and several other nationalities, who also had the opportunity to get a taste of Africa through the various cultural products, made by Africans in Beijing.

DUAPA  AFRICA  is  a registered (in Ghana and China) Pan African social  enterprise  with  partners  and  operations  across  Africa  and  China. Its core mission is to  drive  the  socioeconomic  transformation  and  sustainable  development  of  Africa  and  the world  through  innovative  educational, empowerment  and  employment  solutions.

DUAPA’s core services  include  youth development,  training  and  capacity  building,  business  support,  investment  facilitation,  events  organising  and general  consulting.Their activities through boot camps, consulting, opportunities platform and other capacity building over the past five months have directly benefitted 1000 people, mostly African youth, students and businesses across China and Africa.