AS the countdown begins for Belfast to host future global leaders at the One Young World summit later this year, it fills me with pride to know that this city will help ignite a burning ambition for them to go forward and tackle the major challenges facing our planet.
This is a completely unique event on the international stage. In one room you could have a future Nobel Prize winner sitting beside the next CEO of a Global 500 company.
Delegates attending One Young World can rub shoulders with world political leaders and business leaders such as Richard Branson and Ronan Dunne.
When I think back to my own experience in 2017 when I had the enormous privilege of addressing the Peace & Reconciliation Plenary Session in Bogota, I shared a stage with the late Kofi Annan and the then President of Columbia, Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
When you get that extraordinary interaction between people from the corporate world and NGOs, it can often be the sweet spot where really innovative solutions can be found.
I see corporate companies becoming more and more engaged in playing active roles in helping to solve the big challenges facing our planet today.
Having the One Young World summit in Belfast this year provides local companies with a unique opportunity to be part of these global conversations.
This is not just an event for young professionals, it is much, much deeper than that and I believe more and more businesses are starting to really understand that.
There are wonderful relationship building opportunities, but in truth the summit is much wider than just a networking platform. People from almost every country in the world come together motivated to use their skills and talents to try and solve the big complex issues.
Almost 70 companies from sectors including technology, financial services, energy, pharmaceuticals and more, have confirmed they are partnering with One Young World for the Belfast summit.
Partnerships for Belfast have already been secured with a number of local companies but opportunities remain for others to get involved.
One Young World really is a golden opportunity for local businesses to develop their next generation of future leaders.
The Belfast summit will bring together over 2,000 young leaders representing over 190 countries and more than 250 organisations for four life-changing days of knowledge-sharing and networking, where they will be counselled by some of the most influential political, business and humanitarian leaders in the world.
Our young leaders will have the opportunity to connect with and be inspired by like-minded people from across the globe.
It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Northern Ireland.
:: Conor Houston is co-chair of One Young World Belfast 2023
