Former US President Barack Obama is addressing over 200 young African leaders from across 44 countries in South Africa’s largest city of Johannesburg.
They are the first class of the Africa leadership programme run by The Obama Foundation.
He has repeated the message he made yesterday while giving the annual Mandela lecture – that he was inspired by Nelson Mandela to serve.
He told the young people that he was also inspired by the work they were doing in their communities.
Mr Obama says he knew while he was still president that he wanted to return to Africa to help its young people build networks, as he says it is through networks that people are able to build communities and his foundation wants to help to bridge that gap.
He is currently taking questions from participants.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani has tweeted this picture from the event:
Barack Obama walks in to huge applause and cheers from the 200 young leaders gathered in this room. They are the first class of his foundation’s Africa leadership program. #Obama #200AfricaLeadersObamaFoundation pic.twitter.com/F8U4DMNa32
— Pumza Fihlani (@Pumza_Fihlani) July 18, 2018
