Africa Development Impact Forum (Event 3, ADIF 2026)
Economic and Social Council
Date: 11 June 2026
Language: English
Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/ar/asset/k1m/k1mx7dezq6?lang=en
Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations.

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Speaker 1 [0:00]:

which would achieve its financial profitability soon. So we have developed a roadmap of 4 months, so between the 18th and 24 months, and this microeconomic reliability relies on the revenue flows based on commercialization of the product with high added value. We have the use of technology on B2B transactions and also use of the circular economy principles, so we have insisted in our presentation, by converting agricultural waste and transforming them into tradable products. So livestock is also one of our strategic points. The hub transforms The product has a high profitability rate for investors, private investors. Second, at macro level and social level, macro has an impact on the social. The ROI for the state is considerable in this regard.

I know I'm standing between lunch, so we're going to wrap up.


ASSET · Moderator [1:20]:

We didn't have an opportunity to hear from or to take questions from the audience, but they're amongst us, and so feel free to mingle, network, and ask your questions to our finalists.


Speaker 3 [1:33]:

Now, our judges have the tough task of deliberating and coming back to us with both who is the winner, but also our top 5 finalists.


ASSET · Moderator [1:46]:

This will be announced tomorrow, and the winner of this competition will have their idea as part of the simulation labs that we're having tomorrow.


Speaker 5 [1:58]:

So I'm looking forward to hearing who the winner is.


ASSET · Moderator [2:01]:

I wish we could put out a poll just to see what our audience also think, which would be a fun interactive exercise if we can build it in.


Speaker 7 [2:11]:

But thank you all, and a round of applause for all our finalists.


ASSET · Moderator [2:17]:

Making it this far in itself is commendable. From ASSET, we have hosted our hackathons, what we call the ASSET Youth Policy Lab. We will have another one this year, so if there's any young person here who wants the opportunity to also hack at challenges faced on the continent, we will go live in August and you will have another opportunity to partake. Thank you very much, and it's been a pleasure moderating.


Speaker 9 [2:46]:

Thank you.

All right.


MC [2:54]:

Can we please give to our excellent moderator, distinguished judges, and contestants another round of applause? And thank you for saving us a bit of time. We look forward to the results tomorrow. Distinguished guests, kindly note that the full program for the 2 days is available on the forum website so you can follow all the proceedings. At this juncture, we will break for lunch. Lunch will be served on the upper level, and our ushers will be available to guide you. The knowledge fair remains open, and we encourage you to visit. Despite our best efforts at Japanese time, I think we're still African inside. We are running slightly behind schedule. We'll therefore aim to resume, please, at 2:10 prompt to continue with the forum. Thank you so much for your engagement so far.


Speaker 11 [3:43]:

Thank you.

Recording stopped.


MC [6:42]:

Distinguished participants, we kindly ask you to proceed for lunch so we can commence promptly at 2:10.


Speaker 13 [9:02]:

Young people join Africa's labor market every year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Now, if just counting to 10 feels really long, Imagine having those 12 million handshakes. Imagine talking to those 12 million people. I have met Hannah, who codes into the night when the power returns. I have met Samuel, who worked leather, who understands leather before he understood algebra. I have met a boy who smells of coffee and ambition. Understands grind sizes and growth profiles better than most of us here understand policy timelines. Youth are not a wave. We are names. Names are unrealized return. You speak of capital flows. We speak of rents due. You speak of blended finance. We blend hustle and hope Brains that make sure it holds. You say job creation, we say pace. Youth are not the problem to be solved. Youth are an investment. Not tomorrow's workforce, today's infrastructure. Because a continent is not built on minerals alone. A continent is built with hands. Hands that turn Kibana leather into export. Hands Hands that make beans into espresso instead of just freight. Hands that carry steel and cargo through the gates of Tanger Med. I am not here to ask for applause. I am here to ask for arithmetic. If you believe in Africa, fund it. If you believe in innovation, fund it. If you believe in us, stop calling us potential, they start calling us important. So do not let our futures become side events. Do not let our names become slides. We are not a breakout session. Instead, put our names on the wall and then meet them. Meet those names at the Roastery. Meet them in the studio. Meet them in the workshops at 6 AM. So when you leave this hall, Let the commitments be heavier than the speeches. Let the funding outlast the form. Not $12 million. One. One at a time. When, when anyone asks what we financed here, let the answer be simple. Names. Young people Join Africa's labor market every year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Now, if just counting to 10 feels really long, imagine having those 12 million handshakes. Imagine talking to those 12 million people. I have met Hannah, who codes into the night when the power returns. I have met Samuel Work Leather, who understands leather before he understood algebra. I have met a boy who smells of coffee and ambition, who understands grind sizes and roast profiles better than most of us here understand policy timelines. Youth are not a wave. We are names. Names are unrealized return. You speak of capital flows. We speak of rents due. You speak of blended finance. We blend hustle and hope. Brains that mix your goals. You say job creation. We say pace. Youth are not the problem to be solved. Youth are an investment. Not tomorrow's workforce, today's infrastructure. Because a continent is not built on minerals alone. A continent is built with hands. Hands that turn Kibana leather into export. Hands that make beans into espresso instead of just freight. Hands that carry steel and cargo To the gates of Tanger Med. I am not here to ask for applause. I am here to ask for arithmetic. If you believe in Africa, fund it. If you believe in innovation, fund it. If you believe in us, stop calling us potential and start calling us portable. So do not let our futures become side events. Please do not let our names become slides. We are not a breakout session. Instead, put our names on the wall and then meet them. Meet those names at the Roastery. Meet them in the studio. Meet them in the workshops at 6 AM. So when you leave this hall, let the commitments be heavier than the speeches. Let the funding Outlast the poor. Not 12 million.

One.

One at a time. When, when anyone asks what we financed here, let the answer be simple.

Names.

Young people join Africa's labor market every year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Now, if just counting to 10 feels really long, imagine having those 12 million handshakes. Imagine talking to those 12 million people. I've met Hannah. Who codes into the night when the power returns. I have met Samuel Worked Leather, who understands leather before he understood algebra. I have met a boy who smells of coffee and ambition, understands grind sizes and roast profiles better than most of us here understand policy timelines. Youth are not a wave. We are names. Names are unrealized return. You speak of capital flows. We speak of friends, dude. You speak of blended finance. We blend hustle and hope. Brains that mix your goals. You say job creation. We say pace. Youth are not the problem to be solved. Youth are an investment. Not tomorrow's workforce, today's infrastructure. Because a continent is not built on minerals alone. A continent is built with hands. Hands that turn Kibana leather into export. Hands that make beans into espresso instead of just freight. Hands that carry steel and cargo Through the gates of Tanger Med. I am not here to ask for applause. I am here to ask for arithmetic. If you believe in Africa, fund it. If you believe in innovation, fund it. If you believe in us, stop calling us potential and start calling us portable. So do not let our futures become side events. Please do not let our names become slides. We are not a breakout session. Instead, put our names on the wall and then meet them. Meet those names at the Roastery. Meet them in the studio. Meet them in the workshops at 6 AM. So when you leave this hall, let the commitments be heavier than the speeches. Let the funding Outlast the poor. Not 12 million.

One.

One at a time. When, when anyone asks what we financed here, let the answer be simple. Names. Young people join Africa's labor market every year. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Now, if just counting to 10 feels really long, imagine having those 12 million handshakes. Imagine talking to those 12 million people. I've met Hannah. Who codes into the night when the power returns. I have met Samuel Worked Leather, who understands leather before he understood algebra. I have met a boy who smells of coffee and ambition, understands grind sizes and roast profiles better than most of us here understand policy timelines. Youth are not a wave. We are names. Names are unrealized return. You speak of capital flows. We speak of rents due. You speak of blended finance. We blend hustle and hope. Brains that mix your bones. You say job creation. We say pace. Youth are not the problem to be solved. Youth are an investment. Not tomorrow's workforce, today's infrastructure. Because a continent is not built on minerals alone. A continent is built with hands. Hands that turn cabana leather into export. Hands that make beans into espresso instead of just freight. Hands that carry steel and cargo Through the gates of Tanger Med. I am not here to ask for applause. I am here to ask for arithmetic. If you believe in Africa, fund it. If you believe in innovation, fund it. If you believe in us, stop calling us potential and start calling us important. So do not let our futures become side events. Please do not let our names become slides. We are not a breakout session. Instead, put our names on the wall and then meet them. Meet those names at the Roastery. Meet them in the studio. Meet them in the workshops at 6 AM.

So when you leave this hall,


MC [1:04:40]:

Ladies and gentlemen, may I kindly invite you to take your seats so we can begin the forum. Mesdames et messieurs, je vous invite à prendre place afin que nous puissions commencer le forum. Merci. Once again, if you have a friend, if you have a If you have a colleague that is not here yet, can you please give them a call to let them know that we're about to start, and could they please come quickly? Thank you so much.


Speaker 15 [1:05:05]:

Thank you.

On its ability to mobilize domestic resources, attract investment, build competitive industries, and create sustainable employment opportunities for its growing population. Africa possesses one of the greatest strategic assets— its people. More than 60% of Africans are under the age of 25, making Africa the youngest continent in the world. Every year, more than 15 million young Africans enter the labor market in search of opportunity and a better future. So yes, the challenge is significant, but so too is the opportunity. Indeed, if Africa's greatest challenge is jobs, then Africa's greatest opportunity also has to be jobs. Africa possesses many of the ingredients required for the transformation we seek. It has abundant entrepreneurial talent, vast renewable energy resources, critical minerals essential to the global energy transition, rapidly expanding digital ecosystems, growing urban markets, and the immense opportunities presented by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. Africa's future depends on the choices that we make here today. Together, we can use this forum as a turning point to create opportunities for our young people, transform our economies, and convert Africa's immense potential into shared prosperity. Africa's future will increasingly depend on its ability to mobilize domestic resources, attract investment, build competitive industries, and create sustainable employment opportunities for its growing population. Africa possesses one of the greatest strategic assets— its people. More than 60% of Africans are under the age of 25, making Africa the youngest continent in the world. Every year, more than 15 million young Africans enter the labor market in search of opportunity and a better future. So yes, the challenge is significant, but so too is the opportunity. Growing urban markets, and the immense opportunities presented by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. Africa's future depends on the choices that we make here today. Together, we can use this forum as a turning point to create opportunities for our young people, transform our economies, and convert Africa's immense potential into shared prosperity. Continent in the world. Every year, more than 15 million young Africans enter the labor market in search of opportunity and a better future. So yes, the challenge is significant, but so too is the opportunity. Indeed, if Africa's greatest challenge is jobs, then Africa's greatest opportunity also has to be jobs. Africa possesses many of the ingredients required for for the transformation we seek. It has abundant entrepreneurial talent, vast renewable energy resources, critical minerals essential to the global energy transition, rapidly expanding digital ecosystems, growing urban markets, and the immense opportunities presented by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. Africa's future depends on the choices that we make here today. Together, we can use this Forum as a turning point to create opportunities for our young people, transform our economies, and convert Africa's immense potential into shared prosperity.


MC [1:13:51]:

Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to start. Can you please take your seats? Distinguished guests, welcome back. We hope you had a good lunch and engaging conversations. We will now be moving into our thematic sessions. We have 3 today and another 3 tomorrow. Thematic Session A is on promoting high-growth youth entrepreneurship. It will be moderated by Ms. Susanna Swidrowski, Director of the Socioeconomic Development Division here at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She'll be joined by various speakers, including the founder and managing director of Le Cher, Abraham— Abramey Andreas Boutais. Also, the manager of corporate strategy, African Export-Import Bank Online, Thierry Kangoye. As well will be Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator, Enable Youth Program of the African Development Bank, Edson Mpisi, also online. The founder and president, Ethiopian Youth Entrepreneurs Association, Samia Godu. We also have co-founder and CEO, Arai Consultancy, Reiso Ismail. And also Economic Affairs Officer, Social Policy Section, Section, Socioeconomic Development Division of ECA, Jane Muthumbi. Director Swidrowski, you have the floor. The session will run for 65 minutes.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:15:37]:

Thank you very much, moderator, and many thanks to all attendees and also to our participants. They were already introduced, so let me just briefly mention the Purpose of this session. So we are expected to contribute to the identification of practical solutions, as was actually said this morning by the Executive Secretary. So we are not looking only for ideas, but actually how to bring them to action and see results. And youth entrepreneurship is a particularly important area. As was said, more than 15 million entrants of young people. Into the labor market every year and only 3 million jobs being created in the formal sector. So youth entrepreneurship is part of the solution, but it's of course not the only answer. It's just one part of the solution. And we should also keep in mind entrepreneurship is not for everyone. And as was also said this morning, it is not only about startups. What is important that actually the startups survive and grow and provide high-productive and high-quality jobs for others. Let me quickly— we just have a new panelist that is joining us, so let me introduce Ms. Samea Abdulkadir Godu, who is the founder and leader of Ethiopia Startup Ecosystem and Beyond. She has experience in building and strengthening Ethiopia's entrepreneurship ecosystem and especially supporting youth led enterprises. So we will welcome and we will also benefit from your views. And then we also have Mr. Abraham Boutaïs, who is CEO of Lersha and who is a founder who successfully scaled business, and that was the most critical— and he will be sharing the most critical experiences from his company. So without further ado, let me start with the first set of questions, and it is actually to Ms. Samia— Ms. Samia— Samia Godou, and actually to all panelists, just to start. What do you view from your experience as the most important factor that is preventing enterprises led by youth to grow? and survive and grow and employ others? And what practical solutions would you recommend? So your reaction would be appreciated.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [1:18:11]:

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for your kind introduction. I am here to share my reflection for every question according to our 6 years' experience of Ethiopian Young Entrepreneurs Association and our current membership data. First of all, Ethiopian Youth Entrepreneurs Association is founded by us, we young entrepreneurs, 6 years ago. We are the one who leads it. So who we are, we are all of the founders of the association is startups. I personally had an education, uh, edutech startup. My vice president, the manufacturing startup. Our boards with health tech, fintech, and diverse sector. So we came together and found this association 6 years ago and get the license from the Civic Society Authority of Ethiopia. And we are here to bridge, to bridge opportunities and to amplify the voice of our young entrepreneurs, because we are a part of the solution and we are the one who is victim from the enabling ecosystem, enabling innovation and startup ecosystem in Ethiopia. During our 6-year journey, I am humble enough to say that we really, really create an impact when it comes to even the world startups. Her Excellency, you can be maybe a witness because you stayed sometimes in Ethiopia and you can see how the change about even the world startups. startups and how the concerned bodies and the one who's the player, including today, we are here talking about startup and innovation. We bring this as an awareness because 6 years ago, with my private company, when I went to the government officials and nobody said that— nobody knows about the word by itself. Even we don't have an Amharic term for startup. The awareness from the concerned bodies, the government, the players, we really create impact when it comes to bring the agenda to the table. This is the first things. Then, after we create the awareness and after we make the agenda, The second and the big thing we do is we are the champion of the Ethiopian Star Proclamation. Last year in July 2025, the— on the first time Ethiopia has the Ethiopian Star Proclamation, and we are the one who's still actively working in the implementation of becoming like translating this proclamation to directives and, uh, translating this proclamation to implementation, because this proclamation has a lot of players, a lot of engagements that really expecting not only from our association and from the young entrepreneurs, but a lot of players, even almost 11 ministries including in the proclamation, and also all the players and the ecosystem starting from giving the designation of being an startups. This is the big achievement and the big things that we did so far. Currently, we have 1,200 active members who's fully registered and paid their membership fee through the TALEB digital national fintech platform, but we have more than 20,000+ young entrepreneurs network and the one who's aspiring entrepreneurship starting from the universities.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:22:22]:

Thank you so much.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [1:22:23]:

Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:22:26]:

Thank you for this insight. And then the next question I would like to ask Mr. Abraham Butta is a very similar one. So what is the main bottleneck and what are the practical solutions to overcoming it when it comes to developing high-growth enterprises led by young people?


Managing Director and Founder · Abraham Andreas [1:22:48]:

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Abraham, Abraham Andreas. I'm a managing director and founder of Lersha. Lersha is an agtech company. We are based in Ethiopia, currently expanding to Eastern and Southern Africa. I think the question Samia somehow touched upon some of the challenges experienced by fast-growing SMEs in Ethiopia and in the African context. To say a little bit about Lercha, we are promoting a one-stop digital solution to smallholder farmers. As you know, the demography of smallholder farmers in the African context is characterized by fragmented land, so serving them one at a time might not be profitable. In terms of financial feasibility. So technology can be leveraged to aggregate demand from input and output side as well. We use agent network. These are son and daughter of farmer in a rural area. These are young people, graduate from universities in agricultural field. So these young people serve as a bridge, a bridge between a farmer and our digital platform. Because the reality of smallholder farmers, they have low literacy, low connectivity, and low phone ownership issue. So we hear a lot about digital technology in agriculture, but in reality, no smallholder farmer cares about the digital technology. What they want is the seed, fertilizer, or the mechanization service itself. So we should see it as a pipeline, as a tool to reach more farmers in a rural area. So some of the challenges experienced by these fast-growing SMEs, one is lack of data. Most of the sectors in African context, it's not well documented. So during landing stage, it takes a lot of effort and time to understand the context. And in every sector, context is king. If you talk about agriculture, value chains, they don't behave in the same way. And if you move from one geography to another, let alone from one African country to another, but even within a single country across multiple geographies, different value chains behave differently. So unless we have data, unless we have a proper context, a solution that might work in one area might fail in another geography, unless we contextualize it. So that's one big challenge, and the solution is partnership. Many sectors in Africa are public-dominated. The governments still play a big role, and they have data. They have data, they have well-documented experience, success stories across years, because it's not publicly available. So SMEs owned by youth should partner with such public institutions to actually get data to learn better, and it cuts the time that takes to actually grow the company. The other is access to finance. It's not a problem of access finance is not available. It's available, but it's available for those who have collateral, those who actually built their institution in favour of requirements set by the financial institutions. If I give you some examples in the agricultural sector, 85% of Ethiopian population lives in agricultural sector and 64% 4% of the job in Ethiopia is created through agriculture sector, but it's less than 2% of the finance goes to the agriculture sector. So as a young farmer, if you have a piece of land given by your family, to access basic inputs such as seed fertilizer and then crop protection, no financial institution will give you a credit of $300 or $400. So this is one of the challenges, and the solution for this is a data-driven approach. I mean, financial institutions, as a company, we built a youth credit scoring for young farmers, where a ticket size of $300 or $400 is given to a young farmer if they fulfill some demographic characteristics and psychometric characteristics. So that's a good start, where we started with $250. Now we are talking talking about $400 and plus for a hectare of land. So there are challenges, but also these challenges, if there is intentionality and there is an effort, there are listening hearts in the public sector, in the development partners, also to make it easy and make agriculture also profitable for these young people.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:28:06]:

Thank you very much for these for this insight, in particular talking about agriculture, which is a key sector in many African countries in providing employment, and also highlighting actually a constraint that is not so often mentioned, you know, which is lack of data, and linking young people with information that they need, but also bringing the constraints to policymakers. Now, you mentioned several important factors. One of them was finance, and the other one is partnerships. So I'd like to now ask online Mr. Edson Msie, who was also with us at the online webinar several months ago, who is the Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator of the African Development Bank's Enable Youth Programme. And if you could maybe, from your experience, share what type of financial instrument may help to young people to grow their enterprises? Then also, how can various institutions, including ECA, how can we work together with the African Development Bank to help overcome these constraints?


AfDB · Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator, Enable Youth Programme · Edson Mpisi [1:29:18]:

Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I hope you can hear me and see me. Can you hear me well?


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:29:26]:

Yes, but we don't see you yet. At least I don't.


AfDB · Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator, Enable Youth Programme · Edson Mpisi [1:29:31]:

Okay, anyway, that's all right. I think I'll talk about that. Yeah, so yes, you rightly point out that there are quite a number of challenges, you know, facing youth entrepreneurship on the continent. And obviously, you know, the biggest bottleneck is not ideas or ambition. There's a lot of that. You can see from the young entrepreneurs who are sitting there on the panel with you. But one of the biggest, I think, challenge really is finance being one of them, but actually having a complete comprehensive ecosystem that helps youth-led enterprises move from survival to scalable businesses. So those are some of the— I think I've captured it in a comprehensive way. But since you asked specifically about finance, we find that that is also one of the biggest challenges. I think data has shown that Africa's tech VC deals fell about 52% between 2022 and 2024. Another big challenge about finance is that roughly 80% of African startup funding comes from abroad. What that means is that if there is any shock, you know, from abroad, abroad, we feel it much more in this area of startups. Now, this makes the startups highly vulnerable to global shocks. The other key challenge about financing is that women-led firms are hit especially hard. You find that female-founded startups received only about 6.8% of investments in 2024. Now, having said that, for both, whether it's the ECA, ADB, and other development financial institutions, we need to tailor our financial systems of, or let's say, instruments to tailor them to youth entrepreneurs. And there are many ways to do that, especially coming in with blended financing, because you might find that the local banks would be able to finance, but the way they view some of these entrepreneurs is that the risk is high. So we could use some amount of blended financing where we could do co-financing that would reduce the risk. And then the, you know, the local financial institutions can support youth entrepreneurs. We can also use guarantees. And there's a lot that has been said about that or has happened in the past. And at the bank, I'm coordinator of an initiative called Enable Youth, where we support youth entrepreneurs in the agribusiness sector. And we have used all of these instruments of, you know, co-financing to reduce— to provide, you know, blended financing that ends up reducing the interest rates, for example. Or we have used guarantees with local financial institutions to allow them, you know, to be able to provide concessional financing to youth entrepreneurs. And right now, the bank has a new initiative called NAFAAD where we're trying to bring in all financial institutions, you know, on a platform of African financial institutions to be able to provide, you know, financing at scale to most of the youth entrepreneurs. Thank you very much. I'll stop here for now.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:33:07]:

Thank you very much for this insight, including bringing the attention to blended finance, which is gaining attention in recent— or many years, and especially in recent years, and as a way to reduce risk. Building on that, I would like to ask my colleague Jane here. You know, we heard about several types of policies and regulation bottlenecks. So can you maybe pick one and tell us how this can be overcome in your experience? Thank you.


ECA · Economic Affairs Officer · Jane Muthumbi [1:33:39]:

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. So in terms of the kinds of policies or policy bottlenecks in the area of entrepreneurship, in most countries in Africa, you find that they are generally youth-driven development policies, but very few countries have youth entrepreneurship-specific policies. So they tend to be— there are, I think, approximately 4 countries that have policies, and often these policies also, which is another challenge, they are standalone policies. They are not integrated into the broader development policies, and so the issue of fragmentation in that regard contributes to the issue of youth entrepreneurship not contributing significantly to development. So one of the ways to address that is to possibly support countries to develop youth-specific entrepreneurship policies, because youth in general or young entrepreneurs entrepreneurs, they face very different challenges from general entrepreneurs. They tend to be very young. Issues of access to finance, which have been discussed here, affect them in a different way. They lack collateral, and so when they go to financial institutions to seek financing, they can't get it. And so also, I think the perception is still that most people should be aspiring to get a job. Entrepreneurship has, you know, issues around stigma around it, although there are very many young people who run businesses, and in most cases they tend to run informal businesses. So to enable young people to unlock that potential to develop high-growth youth entrepreneurship businesses that can contribute to job growth, not only developing jobs for themselves but also for other people, it is critical that countries develop youth-specific entrepreneurship policies. So in terms of a solution, this— given that one of the strengths of ECA is developing— supporting member states to develop policy frameworks. This is an area possibly that the institution can work on, support specific countries that lack those youth entrepreneurship policies to develop those kind of policies so that they can support young people who want to become entrepreneurs and to develop high-growth enterprises, to support them in that regard.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:36:32]:

Thank you very much for these insights. I think one of the important points, and less often mentioned, is actually the perception of entrepreneurship. So it is not the first choice of young people to be entrepreneurs, and even less so to be entrepreneurs in agriculture. And yet that's realistically where many of these opportunities are. So if, you know, there is a little bit of PR behind that systematically, but also linking these jobs with technology, it would— it could become much more interesting. The other one is, as you were saying, young people, you know, are different, and one thing, they have less agency, and we know even when they get the loan, the loan is much more easily diverted. And then from some of the research we are doing and others have done, It's also— it has been also shown it's important, you know, not to leave them alone. This is why initially some of the youth entrepreneurship funds did not succeed because, you know, young people got money and then 2 years later someone would ask, okay, what happened? And the loan needs to be repaid. But actually to have mentorship and systematic one, that's one of the methods that keeps to be Before we turn to the second round of questions, I wanted to see if there is any question or remark from the audience on what our panelists were saying. We're not leaving it only at the end as an afterthought, so anyone would have a comment or observation now? And if not, I understand also that our participants from the African Export Impact Import Bank, Thierry Kango, is online. So I would like to ask a similar question as the colleague from the AFDB. So what type of specific financial instrument— and what we also heard was the blended finance and psychometric testing as some of the newer methods— so what type of financial instrument may work for young people and help overcome the obstacle of access to finance? And then second part would be on the partnership. How can we partner with African Development Banks and Afreximbank, VSECA, going forward. So, Thierry, over to you, please.


MC [1:39:05]:

Director Swidrowski, he's not online at the moment. We will continue following up with him. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:39:10]:

So, yes. Okay, sorry, so that was a mistake. So, yeah, so we can— is there any comment at this point from the audience? Yes, please.


Speaker 32 [1:39:36]:

Okay, thank you very much for your opportunity to speak in this meeting. I have a comment, not questions, because there is something inside with interpersonal skills. That means that there is a different direction between interpersonal and the Youth employment opportunity. Youth employment opportunity based on the person or leader or manager that have acquired this opportunity. But entrepreneurial, it is creating a job and give opportunity to youth. And that's a good voice from young. And I'm happy to see them. And it is my comment because Africa needed a lot of creating job opportunity for youth and other for the, uh, like investing and everything. And that's a good, uh, appreciation for them and for you and Thank you very much.

Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:41:00]:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. And now, so before I turn to audience, I would like to also give opportunity to Ms. Reisso Ismail from Djibouti, who is a CEO of RA Consulting. So can you share your experience and maybe focus on constraints specific to women, young women, they face.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [1:41:27]:

Thank you very much, um, Madam Director. Um, my name is Riso. I think that has been introduced. Uh, co-founder of Arai Consulting. We mainly specialize in strategic advisory, institutional matchmaking, project coordination and management, and partnerships, uh, with the public-private sector. Um, I think that I think that when we are talking about the inclusion of youth, particularly women, and in high-growth enterprises, it's very important to contextualize it with our current demographic reality. We all know that as our continent is navigating its demographic transition, we are hosting the world's largest youth cohorts. I think it's about 445 million of a population. And every year, we're having about 20% of those youth that are not employed or not educated or not in any type of training. We know that the current public sector as they are cannot absorb them. The private sector industries, the traditional ones at least, also cannot absorb them. So what can we do? The main thing that we need to focus on right now is rethinking on how we can build enabling environments through integrated approach— an integrated approach, rather, or a pathway. What we are seeing is a lot of fragmentation when— if we're to give an example of startups, because that has been mentioned a lot, or high-growth enterprises, a founder may get, you know, initial information for, business development in one area, then they might get, you know, mentorship somewhere else. They might get funding somewhere else. They might get structurization information elsewhere. And that's even more fragmented when we're talking about people, populations that are much more vulnerable or marginalized. So I'm particularly talking about, you know, women, people who are living also in more rural areas. And the— I'm not asking for us to kind of lower the barrier of entry, but I think we need to kind of widen the net and redefine what we mean by high-growth enterprise. Of course, startup being an important one because we're all— it's highly scalable, it's replicable, it's technologically dependent, and all these things, but it is requiring a lot of the infrastructure that the reality just is that It's localized in very specific urban capitals, which doesn't allow for other types of high-growth enterprises to even access. We know there are problems when it comes to opportunities, with a problem when it comes to a lack of access to capital. It's very unfortunate that as a continent, when it comes to global venture capital, we're only receiving about 0.5%. globally. That is abysmal. We have heard from other panelists here when it comes to the kind of blended financing approach and, and, and these type of things. I would propose a solution that is, um, much more simple, which we can start with a sequential type of funding, meaning you make it in a way that is a lot more inclusive So that means who are you targeting? What are the metrics that you are, you know, reading through? Is it just about participation? Is it just about the amount of women that are participating in specific programs? Or are you making it in a way that it can be accessible online? Are you making it in a way that you have childcare that's accessible? Are you making specialized programs that can focus on sector specifics? Research is showing that When it comes to any kind of enterprises that are more social or environmental focused, it attracts a lot more of the attention of women.


Speaker 35 [1:45:28]:

Why?


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [1:45:28]:

Because women tend to be a lot more taking on more leadership roles when it comes to their communities. We know that if we're investing in women, they have this lever effect where they're able to pull other people out of, you know, if we're talking about social social development initiatives, or we're talking about poverty reduction. So it does make sense from an economic perspective, from a return on investment perspective, to make it inclusive for not just women, but everybody that is kind of left out in the margins. From my experience working in that ecosystem, especially ecosystem building, you need everybody on board. You need the public sector to put in enabling environments, to put in the kind of policy that is required to allow for certain, you know, companies to be able to grow and access to specific capital. You need the private sector to be interested and look at this as something that's worthwhile to invest into. You need the community to have a lot of awareness raising so that they can even understand what startups are. A lot of the time when people are talking about startups, unfortunately they don't have the best reputation, I would say. Sometimes people use it interchangeably with income-generating activities or, you know, other means. And if we're going to be serious about job creation, because we don't— we no longer have a choice, we have to rethink and reshape how the current models are, we have to be also very serious about where and how we are investing and in the types of integrated approaches. And we have to also be very serious about what kind of metric and outcome are we measuring. It cannot just be about participation. It cannot just be— we need to look at how many companies have survived, how many did not survive and why, how many have been able to scale, how many of them have been able to have meaningful partnerships. So I think I will probably stop.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:47:27]:

Thank you.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [1:47:28]:

Here, thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:47:33]:

Thank you very much for your insights and firsthand insight being CEO. And I mean, what I took out of it was again the measuring. So this relates to what the colleague on the left was saying, the importance of data, and not only at the startup stage but also monitoring the outcomes. And I would only add also we need also data on those who tried to be entrepreneurs and did not succeed, right? Because that would also help us understand the obstacles, and we don't have such data. And again, emphasizing integrating— integrated and sequential approach and the importance of ecosystem. Now, I would like to go back to our audience because there were hands up. Yes, I start there with Zorba, please. Over to you, and then we go to the right, and then there. Yeah, no, but first Zorba, please. Thank you.


Zorba [1:48:20]:

Yes.

Thank you very much, Director. I wouldn't agree more with you on the point that not all young people can be entrepreneurs, and we have seen this. But the model that perhaps we should be exploring is that you identify those who are in entrepreneurship because they have the skill, but also the capacity to scale scale, and then also consider those that can get employed. And I like the idea of Samia's group where they do have this— the group that is actually in entrepreneurship, but also they embrace those who are aspiring.

I think that's a very good idea. Perhaps the question to you, Samia, is Are you confined in Ethiopia or you have members outside?

And if not, do you have plans to incorporate other members from outside Ethiopia?


Speaker 41 [1:49:27]:

Thank you.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [1:49:33]:

Thank you so much, my dear. Yeah, by the way, we have one initiative which is initiated by UN and the Chinese government in Beijing, which is called International Young Entrepreneurs Association Alliance. So in that alliance, um, there is 49 international countries. From that, Ethiopia is a member. It's found at 2022 in Beijing, and I met 7 other African countries, from— mostly from Southern African countries and North African countries. I was the only one from East Africa. Then we came together, all the 7 African countries, and we mobilized almost 22 African countries, and now we have the Alliance of African Young Entrepreneurs Association Alliance. It has 22 members. But we do all the strategy and everything, but we didn't start operation, you know what I mean? Because most of African countries, they don't have exactly like us, like Ethiopian Young Entrepreneurs Association, obviously Tanzanian Young Entrepreneurs Association. But when it comes to Kenya or other— Ghana, like Young Entrepreneurs Network, Young Entrepreneurs in Business. Young Entrepreneurs in Business. Startups network, you know what I mean? So according to the countries, there is a lot of different focus and different aspects, but we are trying to mobilize all of the African countries and bring this best practice and to share different opportunities because our association is not only operating in Ethiopia and Africa because we have an office in 4 different countries. For example, we have a platform and an office in China. Our China office is specifically working in manufacturing because we try to bring all the best practice and what they have in best because, you know, in Africa there is not that much good manufacturing. So our members have MVPs like minimum viable products. So we took that product to China for the manufacturing. And we have another platform in Sweden. But we engage in a lot of European countries. From Europe, we do some technology innovation and knowledge transfer. We travel a lot and we try to expose our members and to bridge our members for the global opportunities and to do like a co-founder matchmaking. When it comes to Middle East, we have another platform and office there for the investment and market linkage, because a lot of VCs and angel investors from Middle East, especially from UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are trying to bridge our African young entrepreneurs to the rest of the world, because at the end of the day, we have a good talent, we have a good geographical opportunity. There is a lot of opportunity that we can do, but we don't have to close our doors, because at the end of the day, we are a global city. And we are trying to make a bridge. So we are trying to bridge the missing link. But our members, it's a national association, but our members are specifically Ethiopian. But when it comes to the alliance that we are founding in Africa level, yes, it's a big alliance. But for more, we can, we can chat during the coffee.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:53:05]:

Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I think there was a question.

Yes, please.


Nath Nail [1:53:12]:

Okay, thank you. My name is Nath Nail. I've been working in the digital agriculture sector for the past 5 years. So my question goes to Mr. Abraha because I want to focus on the agricultural job creations. So you, you raise a very good important point. One of the challenges is data. Yeah, so that what would like to do in order to mitigate these challenges? Because, as you know, this youth employment sector needs a continuous assessment and support. In order to do that, we need to have not one-time data, iterative data. So in order to mitigate this challenge on the data, as a successful private sector, what do you recommend? in the broader, in the broader views, because nowadays the government also tries to do a lot of things regarding to solve this data challenge. As I know, recently there will be also a digital agriculture roadmap is implemented in the Ministry of Agriculture sector. So one of the components on that roadmap is to solve the data challenges and also to create some agricultural data marketplaces in order to support the employment and also the other attributes. So to make it specific, in a broader way, what should the stakeholders have to do to solve these data challenges? Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:54:50]:

We have 2 questions over there, please.


Malaku [1:54:56]:

Good afternoon. This is Malaku. Thank you very much, Madam Suzanne, for your opportunity and also the panelists. I will acknowledge the interference that you have from your perspective, but I want to— as an ecosystem of the entrepreneurship, there are much of challenges as a youth, entrepreneurship in Africa and the youth. So if we mention a lot of things like political instability, access of finance, infrastructure, it's a lot. But my question will be, how can we, government and developmental partner, and also private sector, working together for strengthening the ecosystem challenge?

So this is—

Yes. I mean, in building the Africa we want.

Am I clear?


Speaker 47 [1:55:51]:

Sorry.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:55:52]:

Who is this question? General or—


Malaku [1:55:54]:

It's general, maybe for the household, maybe for the panelists, maybe for the house as well. So the main challenge is we appreciate most of the time as a youth, you know, we speak about the challenge that we face on the bureaucracy during the entrepreneurship when we go to have the license and other things, but how we can make all the parties of— I mean, 2 strengths in the ecosystem of building the Africa we want. Thank you.


God Junior Nwandinda [1:56:25]:

Can I help to answer that?


Speaker 51 [1:56:28]:

Okay.


God Junior Nwandinda [1:56:29]:

I'm God Junior Nwandinda from Uganda. I work with SMEs. and the smallholder farmers. Most times the challenges he's talking about, we discuss them amongst the people facing the challenges only. For example, right now, if there are SMEs maybe facing registration issues, tax issues, finance issues, Yes. Is our ministry people here? Our departmental people, let's say from government departments and MDS, are they here to listen to those challenges such that they actually get solutions or they solve them there and then? No. That's usually the case.

They—

if we are lucky and they come in, They will come with presentations of what they want to tell us, and after that, they go. Then we remain alone discussing our own challenges alone without actually getting the solutions from the people that would have solved us. So I think going forward, we could shift such kind of— such that, let's say now, we get maybe those challenges. Then the next time we know people face these, these, and these, and the people who are supposed to handle these are these. Now we task them to be there at that particular moment. If it's a registration issue, someone on registration stands there. They ask them, how this should be solved, then someone with a tax issue is also there. And by that, it creates accountability, responsibility, and living out all these things solved and people getting what they need in the real sense.


Speaker 53 [1:58:46]:

Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [1:58:49]:

Thank you very much. And I think we had a question.


Torput Majok [1:58:52]:

Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you, madam. My name is Torput Majok from South Sudan. My question will go directly to my brother on this issue to do with digital agriculture. In my country, We are trying to make sure that we move away from the oil sector so that we can now have investment on this agriculture sector and, of course, by also empowering the youth as well. So if I get you well, my brother, you were sharing the experience on how you've been running your private sector. I don't know how many years you've been running, but you say that you have— you've been doing that business for quite some time. So my question would be, what would be your best experience, or what would be your best advice for a young applicant, like someone from South Sudan or from different country, if you want to do the same thing that you've been doing What will be the practical solution from you, sir? Because, you know, I don't need to— I don't need to start it from zero. I just need to get experience from someone who have done it before, and then I get it from there. So what would be the best experience that you would give to someone that want to do what you are doing? And also, what would also be the advice on issue to do with the data? Because I also— we also have the same challenge in my country is this data, data. Even in all the meetings, we say data, data. So can you get at the experience on that? Thank you very much.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:00:54]:

Thank you. Maybe we can try to answer the questions. So one of them was how to close the major gaps in the ecosystem. So I would ask our panelist online, who is the AFDB coordinator for Enable Use programs. So what, in your view, are the main challenges is missing parts of the ecosystem for high-growth youth entrepreneurship, please.


AfDB · Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator, Enable Youth Programme · Edson Mpisi [2:01:21]:

Thank you very much. And thanks for a lot of good contributions, you know, from the floor and from the panelists. And my— from my experience, you know, running a program on youth entrepreneurship, the Enable Youth Program, you know, in about 18 countries, with some investments of over $600 million, I've learned that to get a successful enterprise off the ground, especially youth enterprise, you need to have really a comprehensive ecosystem or platform that looks at all aspects. I find that often, being the African Development Bank, we might focus more on access to finance, Somebody else might provide— might focus on skills. Another institution might provide on— might focus on technical assistance. But for me, I think that we need to have a comprehensive ecosystem that addresses all of these issues, and that this is where partnership is important. So we need to provide, for example, incubation that looks at what I mentioned earlier, that looks at providing business skills, providing skills in the particular area. In my case, it was mostly agronomic business skills, looking at markets, looking at digitalization, and then looking at access to finance. So really, we have to provide a very comprehensive approach, you know, to be able to address all of these areas. And I think it can be done. And one of the, you know, coming into this ADIFI conference was what practical solution can, you know, can come out of these discussions. And actually, I had one I wanted to share, especially with the ECA being the convener of this conference. I would like to say that, you know, we can, you you could actually pilot what I call the Youth Agribusiness Scale-Up Accelerator. Now, I could provide more details on that, but basically focusing on a small number of countries over the next 12 months. And we have a pilot that targets youth-led firms that already show market potential but are constrained by either finance, business systems, technology, and market access. And the objective would be enterprise growth, job creation, and not training alone. And I'm sure that the ADB would be very willing to work with the ECA, given that the bank also recently set up a division for SMEs. In the past, we didn't have that division, but that is new. So there's a much bigger focus on SMEs and supporting youth to— Thank you. Create jobs and decent jobs. So I think that is something that is, you know, critical, that can be achieved, you know, in the short to medium term. And in terms of the sector, you know, I wanted to propose the agribusiness sector. And this is a strong entry point because agriculture still accounts for about 60% of youth employment on the continent. However, much of this work still remains in low productivity and insecure metrics. So the agribusiness sector, there's so many areas that different youth enterprises are in, from aquaculture, dairy, food processing, logistics, digital agriculture, climate-smart agriculture. And the support then should include investment readiness, financial management, mentorship, which you mentioned is so critical, market linkages, standard compliance, and access to finance. So really, this would be a comprehensive approach. I think one of the participants had that question, how do we address all of these different risks? So let me stop there for now.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:05:35]:

Thank you.

Thank you very much. And then maybe we could also hear— there was a question from South Sudan, what does it take to become entrepreneurs? I would like to ask Ms. Raiso, who is the CEO in Djibouti, to share her experience.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:05:56]:

What does it take to become an entrepreneur?


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:05:59]:

Successful one, or what does it take to become CEO?


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:06:03]:

A little bit of insanity, I'd say, because a lot of times you're just jumping off and you don't really have a parachute, right? So you kind of have to be a little bit, you know, have a bit of a—


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:06:16]:

what is it?


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:06:17]:

Disillusioned?


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:06:18]:

Or no, not disillusioned.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:06:18]:

That's not the right word. Have— in any case, a little bit of insanity is what I would say. That being said, I think there are ways to make it so that you are less likely to fail as much. I mean, I have also started businesses that were not successful. I think the majority of the people that I know that have been able to make successful businesses haven't got it right the first time around. You have to think about, goodness, logistics, branding, legal, technical side, team building. It's so much so soon. And these are all skills that can kind of be shared. What I would suggest and recommend is that firstly, as a— because I think from that question, I think you kind of have to get a lot of stakeholders involved. When there was a pattern that we were not understanding, we got all the people together. Because what I noticed was it was really difficult to get access to finance. I don't have capital. I was moving new to Djibouti. I didn't own a house or anything like asset. And then all of a sudden, I have to bring in my entire life history just to have access to something. Next, I didn't understand how the the structural portion of it, of company creation and IP and branding, and then all the obligations when it comes to paying for your income and taxes and things like that before you can even have a salary. So what we decided to do was I just went and asked directly. I went to each person individually and I was kind of like, hey, how is this supposed to function as a bank if I don't get a guarantee? We had a program that was like a youth fund guarantee, investment guarantee, but then their criteria was just as long. So it was like, okay, how are you supposed to be there as a co-guarantee for these youth that don't have collateral, and yet your list is just as long as a barrier to entry as the bank? And then eventually we got into a lot of advocacy.


Speaker 66 [2:08:19]:

Yeah.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:08:20]:

which is, you know, thankfully now we have the Startup Act since December 2005— 2025, sorry. So that was a lot of work, you know, in— so I don't have a one-size-solution-fits-all, but I think that in our environments, especially in Africa, we are dealing with a lot more barriers than—


Speaker 68 [2:08:44]:

Yeah.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:08:45]:

that, you know, other people in other areas wouldn't have to deal with. That just comes with the package. That being said, you also have a lot more opportunity to fix those problems and fix those issues.


Speaker 70 [2:08:57]:

Why?


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:08:57]:

Because you are the ones dealing with the institutional gaps and the everyday frustrations of it. So don't wait for somebody to give you permission. Find out the information that you need if things are not— the systems are not making sense.


Speaker 72 [2:09:11]:

Thank you.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:09:12]:

Realize that people are building these systems, and if they need to be redesigned, allow yourself to find like-minded people to advocate to redesign these businesses. And again, you don't have a foolproof model. Of course, not everybody's meant to be an entrepreneur. You need people to have traditional jobs. I mean, we need our traditional bedrock of our economy to function. Of course. I hope that—


Speaker 74 [2:09:36]:

Thank you.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:09:37]:

I hope to answer the question.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:09:38]:

No, thank you very much. And one of the key messages was basically— and very rarely you hear actually entrepreneurs admit that initially they fail. So when you fail, try again. And you mentioned the insanity. In entrepreneurship research, we call it overconfidence. And entrepreneurs tend to be more overconfident than the rest of the population because we know the statistics, but everyone thinks their business will succeed. That's a great thing. Thank you. I think there was a question from one of the think tanks over there, but maybe—

yeah, please.


Chief Executive Officer · Gugulethu Siso [2:10:16]:

Hi, can everyone hear me? Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Gugu Letusiso, but please call me Gugu, coming from Zimbabwe. This question is for Ms. Ismail. I think I've just added both of you on LinkedIn right now. But I think your contribution made quite a bit of sense, right? But realistically, globally, only 5% of startups actually get to being a high-growth enterprise. Do you think that there's a risk that we're speaking about all those things? I know the gentleman from the African Development Bank was also talking about some interventions, but realistically, what percentage of those are we likely to see to actually get to high-growth stage? Don't we think that we are tailoring products for a tiny demographic of people that realistically might make it whilst leaving out the vast, vast majority of people that are not going to make it, in essence?


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:11:19]:

Can I answer?


Speaker 79 [2:11:20]:

Thanks.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:11:21]:

Sure.


Co-Founder and CEO · Reiso Ismail [2:11:21]:

Well, thank you for your question, and I, I think you're absolutely right. I think when we're talking about not just those that will reach high scale, when we're talking about unicorns, we're like at 1% or less. So I, I agree with that. But the skills that you're going to learn when you're going through a program, whether it's skills-building programs, whether it's incubation, whether it's pre-acceleration or acceleration, these are skills that can be transferable because you're going to be learning things like, you know, money management, You're going to be learning things like conflict resolution, because trust me, those will definitely arise. You're going to be learning skills such as negotiation, communication, branding, marketing. You're going to be learning skills like evaluating and making important decisions based on specific metrics, right? So these are all— even if you don't make it into a high-growth potential, the fact that you've gained some experience in that business sector will at least allow you to be more employable than you were before. And I think that kind of circles back to the initial intervention of how we can kind of broaden the net to get more women and underserved youth, because you're right, a lot of the times also when it comes to these type of startup programs and things like that, they usually target people that are already— or founders that are already very visible. visible either online or they are— are they well networked? They have some kind of a resource. They are probably in an urban area. They are comfortable navigating formal settings. And when we are thinking about the majority of people that are just as entrepreneurial but unfortunately may not be formalized, right, in the informal sector, we're counting a lot of these women out. And by excluding a lot of these women just because of the fact that maybe they may have less networks or less ability of access to financing or capital or collateral, or less— more time constraints because they have more social and familial obligations. We are completely— and they have less opportunities to build credibility in the eyes of investors, right? And so what happens then is we are leaving a big pool of potential innovative founders completely off the table. So yes, there is definitely criticism with the kind of targeting and segmentation approach, but on the flip side, I would say that the kind of experience and networking and training and skills that you would be gaining from this type of experience will make it transferable for other types of work.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [2:14:00]:

Thank you so much. Just to add, on my Google. Yeah, yeah, Google.


Speaker 83 [2:14:05]:

Yeah.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [2:14:06]:

And my— for my friend from South Sudan, your name?


Torput Majok [2:14:12]:

Tor.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [2:14:13]:

Tor.

Okay.


Torput Majok [2:14:14]:

Yeah, T-O-R.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [2:14:15]:

Okay.


Torput Majok [2:14:15]:

Or you can call me a term of reference.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:14:19]:

T-O-R. Okay.


Founder and President · Samia Godu [2:14:20]:

Tor is okay. So, um, yeah, she mentioned everything perfectly, but the first question is you need to— you You need to revise the question by itself. Don't work to be a CEO. You know what I mean? Most of our young people's challenge is to keep the name tag founder and CEO. Forget that. What kinds of problems that you are going to solve? Focus on that. If you're really articulating the problem that you are going to solve, especially in a country like South Sudan, very new. I didn't forget the independent date of South Sudan because it's my birthday. Yeah, so it's very near. So you guys have a lot of opportunities because you have a lot of latecomer advantage. We, even as an African, because I have an opportunity to visit a lot of countries in the globe, and I see that We have a lot of problems that we need to solve. But the thing is, it's not about all the training. It's not about all the access to finance. It's not all about the policy. It's all about us. Like, are we ready? As young entrepreneurs, are we ready to sacrifice? Are you ready to pay all the stress, all the neglection, all the family, all the society, all the friends, and even the challenge from within, like within the edge, you know? Are we ready to that? This is my question. This has to be your question. Then it's very easy to be keeping the name CEO in our LinkedIn profile and to say that I am a founder and CEO. Are we here to solve a big problem and add impact, not only for our young entrepreneurs, but also for the one who will be coming as the next generation, even for our elders? That should be the things that young people have to consider, because everyone is here, the government is here, the development partners is here. I know there's a lot of too many programs and projects, I know the fragmented— I'm also so frustrated about the ecosystem is fragmented because too many mandates and too many programs and projects. But are we focused and are we trying to solve the real and to catch the real opportunity and focus on the problem? Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:16:59]:

Thank you very much for the perspective. And of course, it's great to be focused on major problems, but for majority of young African people, the issue is how to put food on the table and support their families before they can think beyond. So we need to also think about how we grow from the initial small enterprise to the bigger. Last but not least, we are nearing to the end.


Speaker 93 [2:17:23]:

Thank you very much. I'll be quick because I see time is against us. There was a question that was raised by a gentleman on how to deal with the regulatory process in-country. And I might not have a response for all countries, but I'll just talk about what we do in our environment. Our organization, which is the Grasshopper Trust, works with removing systemic and structural barriers for women and girls. So what we do at we capacitate entrepreneurs. We then make sure that they have access to finance and access to markets. But over and above that is advocacy, where we have sectoral networks in country. that are looking at the policy environment and making sure that it's enabling. The last part is then where we've appointed deputy female governors of central banks who are making sure that they are influencing the regulatory process and changing that. So I just wanted to give a solution to what is being done to do that.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:18:18]:

Thank you very much for that, and this is a solution-oriented session and event, so we would like to follow you. Follow up with you and learn more about the solution. And there is a perhaps last question from the gentleman over there.


Speaker 95 [2:18:32]:

Okay, thank you very much.

Can I speak in French or I have to speak in English?

Okay, let let me try to continue in English if you want. I can speak in French.

Bon, je vais parler en français alors.

I shall speak in French then. Let me begin by thanking all the speakers. It was a very rich exchange. I have 2 points very quickly. I wish to speak to the integrated approach. I think it was the lady from Djibouti who spoke to that. I think it's essential. We have to ask ourselves how do we work with training, professional training institutes and institutions and other entities that work with business plans and How do we break down the walls of the silos, in other words? I think we really need to think that through more carefully because we tend to be conservative and it's very difficult to get people to work together. But some countries succeed. Look at the poverty reduction. China fought poverty fairly well. If you take a poor person, you offer the person an integrated package. All the agencies support this package, feed into this package. Second point. This morning the Executive Secretary said something that I found extremely interesting. He was smiling. He said, you young people, stay with us. By the way, I owe the ISE big time. I was here as a student doing a stage. I would like to suggest that the ECA has a permanent panel, constitutes a permanent panel of some 10 youth who continue the thinking about youth.

Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:20:26]:

Thank you for bringing the example of China to attention. As we know, China eliminated poverty 10 years ago. SDG 1 ahead of the target 2030, and their motto was employment first. So that's why we are also here focusing on high growth, and by that we mean job-creating enterprises. There was a last question from here. Is it still? There's a real— no, I think we really need to, because we have 2 minutes. So I think that was— For the rest, we can continue outside during the coffee break. So over to you.


Executive Director · AK Fasasi [2:21:06]:

Thank you very much. My name is AK Fasasi, Executive Director at the Global Alternative Group based in Nigeria. So my question is directed to Mr.

Edson Piaci.

So I took note of the Enable Youth Programme and then I wanted to find out, how do you define youth, number one, I mean, talking about the specific, let's say, age bracket that is used to define youth in the context of this program. And secondly, how is AFDB looking at enabling youth through entrepreneurship? And that's particularly because in the agribusiness industry, experience is a very, very important factor in implementing— running the business and also qualifying for investor funding and also lender financing. So how is the AfDB creating solutions that's leveraging frapreneurship to increase employment, for example, for youth? And then you would also notice that creating the kind of agribusiness that would result in above 1,000 jobs requires a very large scale of financing and experience. What are you thinking in that regard? Thank you.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:22:28]:

Thank you. So that was question to our panelists online. So over to you, please, colleague from African Development Bank online.


AfDB · Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator, Enable Youth Programme · Edson Mpisi [2:22:41]:

Thank you very much for that question. The distribution of views is pretty standard, and it's that has been given by the African Union, African Union, where we consider youth to be up to 35 years of age. So that is our definition, and it's pretty much across most African development institutions. In terms of how we approach youth entrepreneurship and creating jobs, it has become actually much more taken a much higher visibility within the bank. Initially, you know, we had, you know, specific projects that would focus on youth entrepreneurship such as Enable Youth, where when we do have an investment project in a particular country, we have 3 main pillars of that project. And one would look at the environment creating an enabling environment for youth, youth employment, youth jobs, you know, access to land for youth, etc. The second component is on incubation. So these projects would identify incubation centers around the country and provide training to youth, provide them skills 3 to 6 months depending on the particular, let's say, commodity value chain that you're interested in. So within those months, you'd receive training, agronomic training. For example, if you want to do fish farming, aquaculture, you know, you'd look at, you know, where do you get the fish lining, where do you get the fingerlings, you know, what's the density of the fish, etc. But at the same time, you'd receive business skills. How do you run your own business? How do you write a business proposal? Looking at income statements, looking at HR. So you get that kind of training. And the last pillar was actually access to finance. So now the youth who have gone through that training would receive access to finance. And there's different instruments depending on where you are in your— on the job growth. So there are some grants, there's some concessional financing, then there's some more guarantees. So that's how we approach on youth. But just to add on that, going forward, now we have what we call a youth marker system. All right. So how all the bank investment projects within the different countries would have to address how they're creating jobs for youth. So really, it has a much higher profile right now, creating jobs for the bank. I know we're running out of time, but let me end there for now. Thank you very much.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:25:33]:

Thank you very much for your insights, and also we would like to follow up with you after this event, given your extensive experience. In conclusion, very briefly, I would like to ask my colleague Jane, because she mentioned the lack of entrepreneurial policies. Based on your experience, just a few key features that good entrepreneurship policy usually has, and then on that we conclude. Over to you, Jane, please.


MC [2:26:01]:

My sincere apologies, we have 2 minutes, please. We're already over, so please, 2 minutes. Thank you so much, Director.


ECA · Economic Affairs Officer · Jane Muthumbi [2:26:10]:

Okay, sir, thank you. In terms of the elements of an entrepreneurship policy, one is looking at the regulatory environment. It could look at specific issues that young people face and try and integrate them. Also, the issue of development— business development services. These are critical in terms of supporting entrepreneurs, whether they are young or not. The establishment of networks. Networks are critical, and it was mentioned here. And I would say specific to young people also, the issue of network— of mentoring. So they need to develop— I mean, have mentors who can support them in their entrepreneurship journey. So— and finally, education and skills, you know, beyond just the regular education that one would have, also developing those— the education around entrepreneurship and gaining skills around entrepreneurship.


ECA · Director · Susanna Swidrowski [2:27:15]:

Thank you, Jane. And our understanding is the mentorship has to be continuous, not like one time, because the performance then drops. So on that, we would like to thank all of our panelists for taking their time, sharing their experiences, and everyone else who contributed.


MC [2:27:34]:

Thank you very much, Director Suidrovski, and our esteemed panelists. Please join me in giving them another round of applause for a very engaging panel. Thank you. Distinguished guests, as we wait for our next panelists to come on up, I have one announcement. To help you plan your time, please note that the ECA will be hosting a cocktail and networking session following the day's deliberations. I am told there will be an excellent selection of refreshments available, so please come. All right, thank you again. Okay, okay, without further ado, we will now move swiftly to thematic session B titled Artificial Intelligence and Jobs in Africa: Opportunity or Disruption? This session will be moderated by Robert Lisinge, Director of the Technology, Innovation, Connectivity, and Infrastructure Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Joining him for this discussion are Jake Kendall, co-founder and general partner, DFS Lab; Eric Amel Jumba, advisor to the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and the Digital Economy of the Congo, and coordinator of the African Center for Research in Artificial Intelligence. Founder of Mizizi Africa. Data Policy Advisor, Office to the African Union, German Agency for International Cooperation. Policy and Impact Coordinator, Future of Development Program, Oxford Martin School. Also from Oxford Martin School is Camilla Talam, macroeconomist. Director Lisinge, you have the floor. The session will run for 65 minutes. You can do it in less if you want. We will be most grateful. Please give them a round of applause as we begin.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:29:39]:

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Banki. I think you are asking us to be giving a round of applause to keep our session short, but thank you for that. I think usually it's not exciting to have a session in the afternoon, but given the topic, AI, and jobs, I think that everybody would be awake, especially as we have the young people in the room, and even all of us, we are wondering what will happen to our jobs because of AI. I think a couple of days ago at home, we were watching TV, and there were some young graduates in the house. There was a program on AI and jobs, and they asked me, Uncle, is AI going to wipe out all the jobs we have? I said, it's a bit of a complicated answer. It's not a straightforward answer, but I believe that the session that we are having now would shed some light on this. I think ECA Our Economic Report on Africa, Harnessing Frontier Technology for Economic Transformation, the 2026 edition, answered this question because AI is a critical digital frontier technology. So we look at the risk associated with that, but also some of the challenges. I will just highlight just 2, 3 things that came out from this, our report, that speak to the topic we're discussing this afternoon, AI and jobs. The first issue I'd like to highlight from that report is that while AI may displace 92 million jobs globally globally. It is also projected to create a remarkable 107 million jobs, a net gain of 78 million, providing compelling support for AI's impact on job creation. That report also highlights that frontier technologies operate as catalysts for entrepreneurship, innovation, trade expansion, and new forms of employment. So those are opportunities. And we also highlight in that report that job displacement and mismatch risks are most acute during the early transition phases, especially in economies with large informal sectors and limited reskilling systems. And finally, the report highlights that Rapid technology diffusion without parallel investment in skills systems can deepen skills mismatch. By contrast, sustained investment in skills development supports job creation as new technologies are absorbed, adapted, and scaled across firms and sectors. So that, in a sense, gives you the answer to the question. Would frontier technology, AI, wipe out jobs? But coming back to our session here, we have a very rich panel to shed light on this critical issue. I have with me Jake Kendall. He is the co-founder and partner of DFS Labs, a venture firm that invests invest in digital commerce startups in Africa. I have Dr. Eric Amel Doumba, telecommunications expert. He led network engineering at AT&T Mobility for 10 years. I have Ms. Mwende Mugambi, is the founder of Mzizi Africa, also known as Mzizi Policy Café.


Founder · Mwende Mugambi [2:34:01]:

Hi.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:34:02]:

And finally, I have Mr. Abraham Kuku Sam. He serves as a data policy advisor for data governance in Africa. He works with the GIZ Africa Union. So now you know our panelists, but before we start, I'm going to ask Ms. Camilla Talam of the Oxford Martin School to take 5 minutes to set the scene for us.


Macroeconomist · Camilla Talam [2:34:40]:

Thank you very much for laying a very good foundation for my very brief context-setting conversation. I'd like to make 4 main points in the way of setting the stage for our conversation this afternoon. Firstly, we've heard about the jobs challenge, about 15 million young labor market entrants entering the job market every year over the next 20 years to 2020 to 2050, but in contrast to this is the low job growth in Africa. For every 1 percentage of GDP growth we generate, we create only about 0.04 jobs. This is a tenth of what the global average is. And this is the backdrop— this is against the backdrop of AI transforming economies globally and in Africa. Specifically on our continent, AI could unlock over $100 billion in economic value in over 20 sectors, and this could boost GDP by 3% every year. Africa also has the opportunity to lead AI development in frugal AI development and move from just being a consumer to AI technologies developed elsewhere. But this will also have transformative impacts on our job market. In the key sectors likely to be impacted by AI currently— banking, retail trade, FCMG markets— AI could yield $16.7 billion in productivity and AI efficiency gains. And the impact of jobs are wide-ranging. The good thing is that Africa has a low AI exposure. Only about 85% of our economies have a low risk of AI. And this brings us to where we are now. What opportunities can we harness to unlock the value we've discussed? Looking at some of the key areas in terms of the informal sector, how can we tap into technology that SMEs can use to grow? expand and create jobs? What sector-specific job creation impact could we see in the key sectors that drive our growth— trade, agriculture, industry, services? What skills need to be developed, upgraded for AI, for Africa to be ready to deploy AI in a meaningful way for our jobs? And finally, what What does the policy landscape look like? What data governance systems do we have in place? And what role does sovereign AI have in shaping this AI ecosystem? With that, I yield back to Dr. Lessing. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:37:46]:

Thank you. Thank you so much. Just to give a roadmap of our session, I'm going to ask a couple of questions.


Speaker 110 [2:37:55]:

Yes.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:37:56]:

For each of our panelists. We'll give them 6 minutes each to respond to those questions, and we will have a question and answer session, and then we'll come back to the panelists to wrap up. Now, there are 4 thematics that the panelists are going to speak to. The first one The first one is AI and informal economy. The second is sector-based AI opportunities. The third is youth employment and skills. And finally, the fourth is policy, data governance, and sovereign AI. So the panelists, I'm going to urge you to, as you respond to your questions, for the thematic that you'll be speaking to, you kindly look at briefly the status in Africa for that thematic, what are the trends that you see emerging, finally, what are the potential benefits and opportunities, and at the same time, you try to weave in policy issues and solutions, because this is an action-oriented session. So with that said, I'm going to turn to Jake for the first question. Jake, what evidence, in your view, exists on how AI is already reshaping productivity and income patterns in Africa's informal economy? And what were, or what are the inequalities risk that are most acute? And secondly, what models of AI-driven financial inclusion have shown measurable impact in African labor markets, and what conditions determined their success? Please, if you could try to be succinct and I know that is a lot to chew.


Co-Founder and General Partner · Jake Kendall [2:40:08]:

Thank you, first of all, to the organizers for having me here. I'm very honored to be here in front of this audience. It's a very important topic, and I'm excited to discuss it with you all. So first of all, the informal economy is not a side issue on this panel, right? firms make up about 80% of the firms in many African countries, and informal employment through those firms often similar, 80% or more. So this is an incredibly important sector to look at. We have an emerging set of research, and I'm going to speak to you both as an investor but also a researcher. I'm an economist and do a lot of research as well, so I'm going to give you both Both looks. From the research side, there's an emerging set of studies looking at the impact of AI on jobs, on employment. Unfortunately, almost none of them are looking at it within the right context for this discussion, right? There's a series of randomized control trials, some, many of you might have heard of, where in a whole bunch of different formal employment contexts, they show efficiency gains, productivity gains. They show catch-up from least effective and least productive employees to the most effective. And so paints a pretty bright picture. Also looking at the macro level, there's a number of studies trying to assess, you know, the potential impact of automation replacing jobs versus augmentation, which would raise productivity as well. Most of those, again, are predicated on a formal employment pattern where there are jobs and there are tasks associated and AI plays a role in either augmenting or replacing those jobs. Unfortunately, in the informal sector for small businesses, those studies don't tell us very much, right? They paint a pretty rosy picture, but it's pretty hard to know how they're going to translate into informal sector employment and firms. The one study that I know of where they've actually given AI in the form of an AI business advisor to firms in Kenya, all of them small and informal, had no impact on average, didn't improve things at all. And when the researchers dug in underneath the data to understand what happened under the hood, first what they find is it's really only a small number of the most high-performant firms that were already doing well who use AI to improve, and they grow, I think, about 15% in a few months relative to a control group. On the other hand, the reason there's no impact on average is that a lot of the firms actually did worse because of the AI, and that's a phenomenon we really need to understand. The researchers in that study look at the kinds of questions they were asking and try to understand, you know, what is it that causes these entrepreneurs who use AI and take its advice to actually end up worse off than their counterparts in the control group? And it's hard to say. I think part of it is that those entrepreneurs who weren't doing as well before seem to not be as good at picking out what kind of advice the AI is giving them to follow and what kind to just set aside. And I think part of why you see such uniform improvement in formal employment is it's a very different, more linear, more structured set of tasks and decisions that are being made in that context, whereas, as we know, small-scale informal entrepreneurs face a whole range of very complex and uncertain tasks, and maybe harder to know what advice to follow. Another longer thread of literature that I find very important here is the study of how economies differ across firm size, right? So high-income countries, most employment tends to happen through large-scale formal firms, and those large-scale formal firms hire a large number of white-collar employees and are critically dependent on them to manage the complexity that comes with being a large firm, right? You need procurement managers and and HR managers and finance managers and all kinds of people who are delegated specific tasks. Whereas in lower-income countries, developing countries, there's a lack of those white-collar skill sets. And then often you find, you know, most of the firms are small. And there's actually been a recent study looking at sort of the difference. And it turns out that the lack of white-collar skills and employees accounts for about 60% of the difference between lower-income and higher-income countries. So it's an incredibly important bottleneck to economic growth and I think to firm evolution. Now, one thing that you might say is, okay, so that's actually potentially optimistic in terms of how AI can play a role. And AI, you know, who are the people that are afraid of losing their jobs to AI? It's the white-collar workers because AI does really good at those tasks. So maybe that's an opening. I wanted to talk a little bit then about how that might play out, because I don't think it's as simple as just give AI to small firms. When, as an investor, we've, you know, looking back at how giving different kinds of digital tools to small firms has played out, and there's been $5 or $6 or $7 billion worth of capital put behind those kinds of models in the past 10 years or so, one thing we see is that most of them fail. Most of the ones that do succeed tend to be sort of raw infrastructure inputs— payments, credit, you know, mobile connectivity, very simple things that don't imply a white-collar skill set in order to manage them. The ones that imply bookkeeping and more complex supply chain management, things like that, often fail because they're built on the premise that they're helping a, you know, sort of white-collar skill set. Manage the complexity, and that person often isn't there, I think, within the firm. So just reflecting for me, the notion for me should be, how do we help those firms who can, at the top of the sort of performance spectrum, who can really grow into larger firms? And we'll get into my policy thoughts on that, but I think the critical thing is to think about, you know, how do we give them the the things that they can use to grow and become large and much more performant.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:46:38]:

Thank you so much for shedding light on this subject. I think what is coming out is that it depends— the kind of jobs that are at risk actually depend on the job, white-collar versus blue-collar. What you also highlight is that while There are some studies on the impact, especially for informal sector. We don't have too much studies, and some of the findings could actually be counterintuitive. Instead of improving performance efficiency, studies have seen cases where the performance has actually gone down.


Co-Founder and General Partner · Jake Kendall [2:47:20]:

Yes, I should say, I'm actually just now launching a study in Nigeria looking at smallholder— small firms using AI to sort of launch more digital products and online profiles. And so I'll be sharing that at some point, hopefully later this year once our study's done. But you can follow my LinkedIn or something like that. Hopefully should be some pretty interesting results.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:47:44]:

No, thank you. It's quite important to base our discussion decisions on evidence from robust study. So let me move to the next panelist, Mr. Eric Amel Doumba. I think you're a partner, good partner of ECA, being at the Artificial Intelligence Center in Congo, Republic of Congo, but also advisor to the Minister of ICT. The question to you is, which sector-based AI applications offer the highest potential for structural transformation and job creation in Africa? And secondly, drawing on your experience and observations, what ecosystem conditions have proven most important For scaling AI innovation hubs and centers of excellence across the continent, I think no one is better placed to speak about centers of excellence than you. You have the floor. Merci.


Advisor · Eric Amel Jumba [2:48:57]:

Thank you. Permit me to thank the ECA for. Thank you very much for inviting our organization to this activity. I'd like to answer by saying that there are 4 sectors which present high potential for structural transformation of employment for Africa. The first sector, as we said this morning, is agriculture. It remains the main employer of the continent and the main employer of the youth. As we know, we can improve agricultural output, precision, climate, detecting diseases, detecting resources where they are. So this change puts in place new jobs. Related to drones in the area of agriculture and all the related chains of linking agriculture and by, uh, with buyers. That's the first element. Secondly, we have health. The artificial intelligence tools enable us to improve diagnosis. Telemedicine is being developed increasingly in Africa thanks to AI. So there's high demand for specialists in the area of medicine and digital technology in health. Number 3 is digital financial services apps which are related to AI, which facilitate financial inclusion and improve risk assessment and strengthen fight against fraud, to allow better access to credit for SMEs, then digital transformation for administration, public administration. That's what we were using in our country to improve performance of public administration. Here, this is an opportunity, a big opportunity to improve the quality of services, to improve transparency and increase public services. So what I've mentioned is that AI improves productivity as well as structural transformation, and thereby improving African economies. Concerning the second question, our experience in Congo in AI and emerging technology shows that a performing ecosystem is based on complementary basis. We should develop skills massively with engineers, researchers, engineers to establish national strategies in that area. Otherwise, they wouldn't succeed without those skills. Secondly is access to reliable data, which is soaring. This data is the raw material for any innovation in AI. And I think that in Africa, the opportunity that we have is that we, we, we do have the data, and some countries have taken initiative digitalizing language, language, so that you have sufficient data which is well structured in our languages. AI should be associated with national languages, which is not the case in many countries. We have taken that initiative back home to digitalize languages so that people, young people, can use AI vis-à-vis their languages. The third observation concerns the pillar relating to digital infrastructure, data centers, performance, crowd, and ODB networks. Africa is still lagging behind in access to data and unavailable elements of data. As we saw this morning, a young person who was in DRC wanted to make a presentation, but he was facing connection challenges. Then the fourth factor is financial mobilization, which is necessary to develop startups, research laboratories, and projects, must be supported by different governments in the area of technology. If they are not supported financially, then there wouldn't be startups but stand-ups— youth who start and then abandon at the end of the day. So what we see on the continent is that the best results come out when governments, universities, private sectors, international partners work in synergy in a line— in the area of cooperation, sustainable cooperation. By way of conclusion, I would say that AI is the biggest revolution, technological revolution of our generation. Africa has the greatest opportunity, not only in speeding up economic development, but building a model based on talent, quality data, innovation, and digital sovereignty. Our responsibility would be to make sure that that revolution is inclusive, responsible, and opportunity-generating. So Africa shouldn't be just a consumer of technology developed elsewhere, but should be a major actor in the designing and development of governance so that the people can be well served and benefit from this for their future.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [2:55:06]:

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I think you ended by highlighting the need for close collaboration between the government, private sector, universities. I think some people call that the triple helix. But you highlighted 2 dimensions in your answer for the sectors that you see as very useful: agriculture, health, financial services and e-governance. I think our work at ECA actually confirmed that those are some of the sectors that frankly have huge potential for AI. In Guinea, ECA is working with them to digitalize the health sector. In Mauritius, we just worked with them to come up with a fintech strategy, the same with one as well. So our work here at ECA actually confirmed that these are some of the sectors that are appealing or provide opportunities for AI. But you also highlighted some of the foundational issues for successful AI strategies: human capacity, robust data, digital public infrastructure, and and research. But thank you so much for that. I'm sure that there will be a lot of feedback from the audience. Now I move to the youth. How can Africa's youth be better equipped with future-ready skills to participate meaningfully in the AI-driven economy? And secondly, what role do you see entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem playing in addressing youth employment in the context of AI disruption?


Founder · Mwende Mugambi [2:57:12]:

Thank you so much for that question. It is an absolute honor to be identified as a youth, and I'm really hopeful that the points I do give will highlight the place of the youth in Africa and Kenya. So we do agree that the youngest population that we have currently is the youth, with 42% of, you know, the global population being made up of youth by 2030. So that says that there's a huge mismatch between the number of youth we have and the opportunities that we have currently. So we are missing out on the opportunities opportunities of ensuring that the youth that we have currently are well equipped and well engaged. But there's been another mismatch. When we think of AI and tech, we think of coding, right? When today, when you think of AI, you think of, you know, you have to sit down, you have to understand different tech languages like Java and other big, big languages. But AI is actually moving far more than just coding. There's something called vibe coding that you can just create something within a few minutes using the LLMs that are currently available. So opportunities are there, and there's a lot, a lot of opportunities, especially in, you know, AI and tech. But now we lack the mismatch between access to AI and actually using AI in the correct way. So we have a lot of information. There's been a huge internet penetration. I'd give an example with Kenya. We have over 50% internet But the mismatch is there is no internet integrity. So you have a good penetration, but you're not using the internet properly. So how can we tap into these existing opportunities for young people? So we need to ensure there's a coexistence between the governments and the youth and the universities and other development partners, as our former speaker has highlighted, because the youth do not lack information. They lack access. For me to be here today, I would say it's an absolute miracle that I'm seated down in this panel, because as you can see, the age demographic is there. And so it's very important to notice that access to these doors, access to these opportunities, is what is lacking. Skills in Africa are not lacking. We are one of the sharpest brains you'll find in the world. But do we have access access? No, we don't have access. So if we have sharp brains and we don't have access, then that means there'll always be a mismatch, and we will always sit down in these spaces to always have conversations about employment and youth involvement. So for me, how does entrepreneurship come in? First of all, when we create spaces, there's going to be space, right? When we create new AI opportunities, there's going to be Our former speaker has highlighted 4 areas: agriculture, health, finance, governance, and so many other areas that we haven't talked about— infrastructure and other different areas. So if young people are going to be put inside these specific areas, then there's going to be a gap whereby we have the existing workforce and the incoming workforce, which is now the youth. So if there's going to be a gap, who is going to fill it? So is it the youth that do not know how to use AI properly, or are they the youth that will be trained properly on how to use AI? So the next thing that we need to do— entrepreneurship will create a space for us to empower young people to ensure that they run with the cycle and ensure that they are part of the process actively. Then the other thing that entrepreneurship will do for us, it will make work very easy, because with entrepreneurship, there is income, right? And with income, now we will have young African entrepreneurs and not just young African users. You know, we will have AI entrepreneurs and not just AI users. Because I'll tell you this for sure, in every 5 of young people that you meet, they are really good at using their AI. They know how to prompt cloud correctly. I'm sure if you work with young people in your office, you usually go to them, how can I ask ChatGPT to do this for me? Because they are really, really good at it. So imagine you If this person is given resources, an opportunity, and a door to actually do this more properly, then that would mean that we will go away from looking at the statistics of lack of employment to now statistics of opportunities that do not have people to employ. As we speak, AI opens opportunities like AI trainers, models. We have so many opportunities that young people can tap into. So if we can actually open up this door and ensure that more young people are trained, and not only trained, they ensure they're very empowered and that they have AI integrity, then this is going to be a conversation of the past. We will not be sitting here and saying that we have a huge population of young people who are not employed. And I think this touches into my policy area. I do believe that education in AI needs to start very early. Well, unlike my case, I got to start AI, I think, 4 years ago when I was an adult. So imagine if I had started this a long while ago. I probably would be at MIT or Harvard. You never know. Yeah, you know, I probably would be somewhere else. But it's taken me some time to learn how to use AI properly, to, you know, um, prompt properly, to build the chatbots that I do. And it's taken time for me to actually garner my experience properly and grow from just building chatbot for 24 hours to 4 or 5 hours now. So if this had started way earlier, I would have been really, really good at what I do right now. So for me, my urge is, can the member states adopt frameworks for education as early as children start understanding how to use computers? Because only then can we be like China and fight poverty, right? Only then can we have a generation that can create employment.


Speaker 119 [3:02:54]:

Thank you.


Founder · Mwende Mugambi [3:02:55]:

employment at an early age. So yeah, that would be it for me in that question.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:03:00]:

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I think you built a lot from what Eric said in the ecosystem of government, private sector, university bringing in and empowering the youth, and you also highlight the need to start AI education pretty early. The government should create the framework for that. Now, I will go to the last speaker, of course not the least, in the panel, Mr. Abraham Kukusam. The question to you is as follows. The AU African Union has developed several frameworks on data governance and digital transformation. From your experience, what key governance gaps still need to be addressed to strengthen data sovereignty and support responsible AI development across Africa? Secondly, the AU Data Policy Framework provides a shared vision for data governance, yet implementation across member states remains uneven. What is driving this gap, and what practical approaches are showing results in closing it? So, you have the floor.


GIZ · Data Policy Advisor · Abraham Kuku Sam [3:04:31]:

Thank you very much. So, just to share a few statistics then I will attempt to answer the 2 questions. If we look at the Africa policy landscape at the moment, at the continental level, the African Union Commission has developed the AU Data Policy Framework. Also, the African Union has developed the continental AI strategy. At the regional economic community level, I am aware that at least ECOWAS have revised their supplementary act on personal data protection to incorporate all provisions to support the implementation of AI in West Africa. Also, the East Africa Community have developed the East Africa Community Data Governance Framework. And this year, I think even last week or so, there was a stakeholder engagement on a regional AI strategy. And then, if you come to the country level, when it comes to AI policies, there are about 22 AI policies in various stages, including draft form, on the continent. And when it comes to data protection authorities, We have at least 43 of them set up on the continent. But there is a challenge, and this brings me to the first question, the gaps. The first gap is an implementation gap. I think that, as Africans, we are focusing on developing the policy frameworks, but we are not implementing them with the same energy. And there is a big problem because the nature of AI is such that things change so fast. And so if you don't implement the policies, they become obsolete. And with AI, things are also dynamic, so you need to implement the policies to be aware even of what will work and what will not work. so that through the learning and experimentation, you can also adapt your policy. So, this is one big gap that we need to address. The second one is an enforcement gap. We have data protection laws on the continent, but usually, you realize that the institutions are weak. They are not well-funded. They lack the capacity and the skills to enforce our data protection laws. The third one is a data gap, and we know AI thrives on data. Our youth want to innovate, and the first place we can probably start from is public data. So governments use taxpayer money to collect data, but they are not willing to put the data out there for it to be used for research, for innovation, in order to create a local African indigenous AI ecosystem. The other challenge is about allowing data to travel across borders. We are developing policies in our countries but we are still not opening up to cross-border data flow. This is where, with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement coming into force, we need to put pressure on our African government to open up so that data can flow freely, but in a secure and safe manner. Then, finally, there is a sovereign gap. only 1% of data centers can be located on the continent. And so it means that most of our data, especially the ones on the cloud, are sitting elsewhere. And this is also not good for us. And these are gaps that we need to close. And when it comes to why implementation is uneven, A lot of the infrastructure in that part of Africa, whilst other countries struggle with even basic connectivity. The second one is on our legal environment. So, AI will not only thrive because you have an AI policy, but AI also requires other auxiliary policies. Like competition law, intellectual property law, consumer protection law. If you go to our countries, most of our countries do not have this legislation in place. The other one is institutional capacity. We don't have— our institutions don't have the capacity to manage sovereign AI and also protect its citizens from the risk while taking advantage of the benefits of AI. Then, for me, the biggest challenge is political will. Most of our presidents on big platforms claim that AI will help us leapfrog, but how much of our GDP do we put in? AI implementation, and it's about time we end the lip service. And if we really believe that AI would help us leapfrog as a continent, then we have to put our money where our heart is. Then it's about financing. AI requires a lot of money to implement, and then Finally, we need to build technical expertise. Because of time, I may have to leave, so maybe let me give 2 recommendations quickly. If you look at most of the AI policies globally, and also on the continent, they address 4 main issues. So, I'm not saying beyond this, other issues are not addressed, but these issues you always find in all AI policies in Africa. The issue of lack of quality data, the issue of access to infrastructure and compute, the issue of capacity and skills, and finally, the enabling environment or the— Framework. Regulatory framework. And I am not sure I have seen one AI policy on the continent that has specifically addressed issues around AI and jobs. And so this is one thing we should look at as a continent, to develop an AI and jobs prototype that countries can incorporate into their AI strategies. Luckily, we still have—


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:12:58]:

We are running out of time, please. Okay.


GIZ · Data Policy Advisor · Abraham Kuku Sam [3:13:01]:

Luckily, we still have a lot of countries that are yet to develop their policies, and so this is good. We need to look at AI and jobs in the light of employment policy, skills policy, industrial policy, and social protection. We need to make sure they speak to each other and they are connected. We need to see how we can protect workers whilst enabling productivity, entrepreneurship, and job creation. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:13:32]:

Thank you. Thank you so much. I know that you have to leave. That's why I allow you to have a bit more time than the other panelists. But let's open the floor now for questions, comments. Please just raise your plug if you want to speak, and if possible, you could identify the panelist to whom you are directing your question. Yes, I can remember TOR.


Speaker 126 [3:14:03]:

Yes, thank you very much, Director, and thank you very much, all the panelists. I think if we are going to talk about this issue to do with the AIs, I think we can spend the whole week talking of it. And my question would be, I think a lot of panelists have talked of AIs in terms of infrastructures, in terms of job creation, But my question is, in terms of policies, you know, we have to be very frank to ourselves that we are in a situation where our institutions cannot support what the AI is looking for. Like now, to me, I feel like there has to be a clarity between what kind of job do we think that AI should do and what kind of job should we keep for the humanities or for the sake of, you know, employment and also the rest of issues. So my question would be, Don't you think that there has to be policies and also strategies in terms of what kind of industry that we should focus on and also what kind of industry that we should also make sure that people don't lose their job on? Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:15:49]:

Do we— maybe we take a series of questions before we turn to the panelists, please. Yes, I see 2 hands here. Let's start. Okay, my far right, and then we'll come to the gentleman in the middle.


Speaker 128 [3:16:04]:

Thanks, thanks for the, um, for your, for your comments and opinions. My question is to all of you, um, do you think it is possible to completely regularize AI. So we come up with a whole bunch of strategies and things like that on AI policies and how to deal with it. But given the pace that is changing, is it honestly possible to, to do that? And the second question is, especially here in Africa, we are trying to police— not police, but to regularize AI, but we are not necessarily the developers of AI. So the mismatch between regularizing things that we are not developing, it's something that's a bit of an enigma for me. So it's a question to all of you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:17:24]:

Yes, you have the floor. If you could also direct your question to—


Speaker 130 [3:17:28]:

Okay, my question is for all of the panelists and also including the House. So I think when we speak about the AI, the ITs, it's one of the things I think is the advantage and the disadvantage. As a continent, we might have a narrative that will not speak about us, the truth, I mean. How we— we need to have a framework or a policy to have a control mechanism of the AI. We know the advantage, but also the disadvantage. I think we should have as a continent, you know, the control mechanism. So, evaluation and monitoring, because if we're given all the things for the AI that is true, we will be, you know, in difficulty as a continent. So, the narrative will— I mean, the continental narrative will disappear. So, I think as a continent, so all the concerned policymakers or the government, all all of the concerned policy developers, they should have, you know, how we can make those policies together. So I think we need to have, you know, a common policy framework or a system that controls the AI as a continent. Thank you very much.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:18:50]:

Okay. I think there were 2—


Speaker 132 [3:18:53]:

yes.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:18:56]:

Please go ahead.


Founder and CEO · Chamal Nuuh [3:19:07]:

Thank you so much, and to all the panelists for your insightful presentations. My name is Chamal Nuuh, and I'm the founder and the CEO of Rise Forward Initiative based in Somaliland. As an African youth engaged in development work, I have observed that many young people have faced challenges such as limited tools, training, and mentorship in AI and technology. So my question is specifically to Mawende, and my question is, what strategies do you think are most effective to help African youth not only consume AI technology but also actively create solutions and innovations using AI?

Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:20:03]:

Okay, I think we— okay, I have 2 questions here. Let's start with the lady, then we go to—


Chief Executive Officer · Gugulethu Siso [3:20:13]:

Thank you. I think I— what Jake was saying actually resonated a lot. I think there's a lot that we're ignoring about AI. As he indicated, the people that are doing well are the ones who are most likely to be able to take advantage of AI to continue doing well. If you're not doing well, the odds are AI is not in your favor. I'll give you an example. example, I run a fintech. We are in the lending space, right? I think we had financials that we had to put together last week. I'll be very honest, I did not use our usual accountant. I figured out the financials by myself with Claude, right? You take your— what is it— your Zoho Books, right? You plug it into Claude to say, please generate XYZ for me. Jake says he wants to see these particular metrics. Do it for me, right? And then you then pay your accountant. Maybe I pay the person— I'll be very honest, guys— a tenth of what I would pay them for them to generate it for me, because I'm now just paying them to rubber stamp what AI has done for me. Same thing with call center agencies, which I think in terms of job creation, we've been seeing quite a boom. I think within the past couple of months, I've been getting a number of missed phone calls from UK numbers, and you can tell this is an AI voice, right? It's not a person on the other line, which then makes me wonder, realistically, from a job creation perspective, should we not be worried? It's not going to create jobs for us realistically. I think it's going to actually subtract. This is even before we start talking about resources. I think the gentleman from TIZ was mentioning that. We're seeing in America this uproar over data centers and water. We cannot afford to be losing water that we already don't have. Are we truly being realistic about the pros over the cons that AI is going to give to us as a continent based on where we are at this current stage? This is directed to No. Yes.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:22:24]:

You're sorry?


Chief Executive Officer · Gugulethu Siso [3:22:24]:

I can't quite see your name, but I think what you're saying as well is to Jake as well.

Yes.


Speaker 139 [3:22:29]:

Okay.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:22:30]:

I think Jake maybe. Okay. No, let's— we'll take the very last question in the interest of time because we have less than 15 minutes left and we want to give the chance to the panelists to respond. So please, I will give you just 1 minute each for your questions. Please just go directly to your questions and we'll take you. And yes, because we need to stop at some stage, otherwise you would not get any responses.


Speaker 141 [3:23:00]:

Thank you so much, Mr. President. I think the question over there is really a storm that is heading in front of us, particularly for Africans, but we cannot escape from the challenge, so we need to create some sort of strategies in order to combat the challenge. But my question for all of panelists would be, what policy frameworks and public-private partnership are needed to ensure that young people are not only users of AI technologies, rather creators, innovation, and entrepreneurs in AI era? So this is the question, because if you answer this question, I think we will manage the challenges that we are facing currently. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:24:04]:

We have to I think we should really move on now. We can continue the conversation during the coffee break that we would have. So let me go to the panelists. We had a number of questions. I will give the floor to all the panelists. You can respond to any of the questions that you would like to, but please don't take more than 2 minutes so that everybody has a chance. to respond. And as you do that, if you can just leave us with one critical recommendation that you think would help to address all the challenges that you yourself raised and also the questions that have come from the floor. So you have the floor, yes.


GIZ · Data Policy Advisor · Abraham Kuku Sam [3:24:52]:

Thank you very much. So I want to address the question of what What kind of jobs should AI take? Yes, I think that we should look at the conversation this way: how can we use AI to solve our problems? We have huge problem with health on the continent, education, agriculture, Let's start from there. Of course, I agree that some jobs will go, and especially call center jobs, they will go. A lot of clerical entry-level jobs will go. But let's do the difficult jobs. How can we leverage AI for the informal sector? The informal sector is a big chunk of our economy. I think these are the things that we should look at, because that is why I'll come back to my recommendation that we need an AI and policy— AI and jobs policy that integrates employment policy, social protection, industrial policy, so that we will know which jobs will go, and then we prepare our youth for that, and then we also know where we can create employment. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:26:27]:

Thank you. We'll move to Jake.


Co-Founder and General Partner · Jake Kendall [3:26:34]:

Yeah, so great questions. I'm going to try to answer your question. I think if anyone tells you they know So they probably don't know. I don't think that's a— I don't think anyone can say they have any certainty on that. I guess it's possible I'm fundamentally optimistic. I do think there's big risks. I think, like I said earlier, I think a lot of the data points to a certain amount of insulation in the African economies. Since so much of it will be in white-collar jobs where there's disruption. I also think that generally history points to when these kinds of disruptions happen, they create new and unexpected sectors and jobs that it's much harder to predict the new and positive outcomes because they're not there right now, whereas it's much easier to see what's going to be disrupted and hurt. I'm fundamentally optimistic. I also think that, you know, a lot of these forces are beyond the control of any single country, and on some level we just have to lean into the positive side because cowering and waiting for bad things to happen is, you know, almost never the right response, right? So trying to insulate ourselves from possible negative response, you know, negative outcomes in the, in the way that global labor, global trade flows those, you know, global organization of value chains, all those things are going to change. We just have to, I think, you know, try to be nimble and respond and try to find the positive opportunities. I don't know what else to do, basically. I wanted to also— there was a question over here around how African countries can regulate AI when a lot of it is being produced elsewhere. And I think that's actually a really critical question. For me, I think if you look back at the data privacy, which is, you know, a question that's, you know, maybe 10 years old at this point and is a lot further along than what to do about AI, what to do about social media platforms and data privacy and that kind of thing, the dynamic you saw was a lot of those things being created in the United States in a few Pacific countries, and then Europe and a few other countries coming up with regulations to manage them that then became kind of a global norm. And I think looking to that model might be very interesting, I think, for African countries who maybe feel like, you know, this stuff is happening somewhere else, looking to see who else is a potential ally, how can we construct, you know, coalition across countries who all maybe have similar sets of incentives. I think Europe is potentially, again, potentially a positive ally in that case, but other parts of the world as well, and saying, look, how do we come together as a bloc and put forward a set of policies and regulations that we can all adhere to and get benefit out of and protect our workforce as well as get the most positive benefits? So that would be a perspective I would have on that particular question.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:29:39]:

Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Eric?


Advisor · Eric Amel Jumba [3:29:48]:

Thank you.

There's something I'd like to add. 3 questions were asked, but one was on regulatory authorities, another was about the legal framework, rules and regulations. Let me take— let me wear my hat as an executive. I would say a country cannot develop or put AI initiatives in place without having an AI national policy, because strategy means you're working with others, you're working with the national systems in collaboration. All the countries' needs have to be put together. AI has to have an action plan over 3 years, 5 years. But as a country, you have to decide what it is you're putting together for AI. Which areas do you want to give focus to when it comes to AI? So that's the first very clear point, I think. Second thing I think we should bear in mind, we're talking about data. On the one hand, how can you talk about an AI strategy if you don't have a data strategy? The two must go together. If you have a strategy for data, then obviously you will have an AI strategy. Or you take the two, put them together in a single document with a very clear, forward-looking strategy for the country. There was a question about regulatory authorities when we talk about AI, but I think an answer has already been provided to that question. But the same thing applies when We're putting in place frameworks. We've talked about the frameworks for artificial intelligence, and we realize that if a country doesn't have a regulatory framework, laws for AI, then it's very difficult because there are going to be other areas where laws are required that go along with those laws. I thought it was important to make that point of clarification. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:31:47]:

As the response, Mwende?


Founder · Mwende Mugambi [3:31:55]:

I'd say majority has been said. I'll just focus on 2 key areas. One of the panelists did highlight an issue with implementation, and I will highlight that as I also respond to the question that was asked by the founder from Somalia on what training can we have for young people to ensure that they create solutions and innovations. So our first challenge that we have currently is we have an issue with implementation of existing policies. And like we all know, Africa has amazing policies. We have very beautiful shelved policies. And so what we do is we create AI platforms that translate these policies. And that could be one of the ways that young people in Africa can use their skills to create solutions and innovations. And I think it doesn't have to be a specific way. It doesn't have to follow a specific pattern because, again, the conversation on us being users and not developers has been brought up so many times. And so we also need to realize that our abilities can only get to a certain level when it comes to actually using AI at the current moment. As I finish up, I would say that it is important that we ensure that our young people are getting direct mentorship. There's still a huge gap in the mentorship in the AI space because not a lot of us have expertise in that. But if you happen to find an expert in that, please hold on to them because it's really, really important. And my last words would be, it is about time that we move from the Book of Lamentations when it comes to matters AI and the youth and open the page of Acts. Thank you.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:33:32]:

Thank you. I I think that we have just 1 or 2 minutes left and I see the colleagues already looking at me, so I use those 2 minutes. I will leave it with our colleague Camilla of Oxford Martin School on her final reflection. She may like to touch on some of the questions or she may just say her take from this session.


Macroeconomist · Camilla Talam [3:33:59]:

Thank you, Director. I think what I take from this is there's more questions than answers that we have, which really calls for more data and research to understand how AI and technology and innovation will impact our economies. Automation and bringing a robot into, for example, a restaurant in Africa will likely create a job to bring in someone who understands how that robot will fit into into the ecosystem, whereas the same robot will actually displace a job in China. So I think it's important to put into context all these discussions in terms of how do they apply to the context of our economies. One big thing I think is in terms of skills and the opportunity to leapfrog. We don't have to use AI or develop AI in the way that we have seen it developed in advanced markets. We don't have to follow those systems. And I think we've already seen it happening with different technologies in terms of climate applications, in terms of agricultural applications. So maybe looking at some of the opportunities and some of the skills that align with our sectors of growth and that align with unique opportunities that we have. Let me stop there. Thank you very much.


ECA · Director · Robert Lisinge [3:35:14]:

Thank you. Thank you so much. I think we don't have any more time. further comments. I would just ask all of us to join me to give a hand of applause to our panelists.


MC [3:35:30]:

Thank you very much, Director Lessinga, and our esteemed panelists. Please join me one more time in giving them a round of applause for a great panel. Distinguished guests, as we await Before we meet our next panel, may I kindly invite you to stand for a moment? Can everybody please stand up? I'm told by the doctors that this is good for us to stretch a little bit after, you know, sitting for 2 panels. So please feel free to stretch. Don't hit anybody on your left or your right, but let's stretch a little bit. All right. And now can you please talk to the person beside you? Just say, you're invited. I hope I'll see you there. There are lovely refreshments. All right, and then remind them that there's also the knowledge fair. Thank you so much. You may please be seated. Okay, we have one more thematic session and a very short impact talk remaining today. We will now move to thematic session C, which will focus on unlocking regional value chains within the African Continental Free Trade Area to empower youth-led enterprises across Africa. This session will be moderated by Melaku Desta, Director in the Regional Integration and Trade Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Joining him for this discussion are Tasha Chitika, founder, Wingy General Dealers; Gugulethu Siso, chief executive officer of Thumeza; Semhal Gouache Berri, founder and CEO, Cabana Design; Shipra Chisholm, president, African Women in Business; Fetene Aragaw, Business Development Manager, A-Trade Group; Andrew Aliyu, Regional Economist, Regional Office for Africa, International Labor Organization; and Emmanuel Subiran, Policy and Program Officer for Trade and Economic Integration, Delegation of the European Commission to the African Union and ECA. Director Desta, you have the floor. The session is scheduled for 65 minutes, but if you want to use less, we are very happy. Thank you so much.

Over to you.


ECA · Director · Melaku Desta [3:38:08]:

Okay. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, and thank you, Master of Ceremony. by reminding us all about the cocktail. I'm not sure if you are helping this session or not because we are already very late and— but we'll try our best. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great session. A lot of effort has gone into this. My name is Malakou Desta. I'm the Acting Director of the Regional Integration Trade Division.

Thank you.

And the work, the underlying work for this was done by the colleagues from the Sub-regional Office in Southern Africa, to whom I'm really, really grateful, in collaboration with the ILO and the Southern African Youth Forum. So I'm very, very grateful that we have put this session together. And of course, it very much resonates. This is at the heart of the entire conversation that we are having here, titled Unlocking Regional Value Chains and Empowering Africa's User-Led Enterprises to Thrive Under the FCFTA. So regional value chains, user-led enterprises, the FCFTA— these are the 3 buzzwords that we have here. CFTA in very high-sounding terms for good reasons, because we believe if it is properly implemented, this is a platform that can help all of us unleash the power of economy of scale and take Africa forward significantly. I don't have a lot of time, as you can imagine. Initially, we were told we had an hour and minutes, then that was cut down to about an hour and 5 minutes. So I'm not going to take long to introduce this session, but let me just give you an outline of how we are going to run this. First, we will hear from 3 colleagues here on the stage, 3 young ladies who are doing some inspiring work. We are going to hear their testimonials about their experience as entrepreneurs. 2 come from the Southern Africa region, from Zimbabwe and another from Zambia, and the 3rd one comes from here, closer to home, from within Ethiopia. And then that will be followed by a panel discussion among the other colleagues that you see on the stage here. So without further ado, I'm going to follow the sequence that I have in front of me, and I'm going to start by asking Mrs. Gugulethu Sisulu, founder of TUMESA in Zimbabwe, to take the next 4 minutes maximum and give us your testimonials, your experiences, and the extent to which the FCFTA can help, and hopefully it does not hinder the work that you are trying to do, would be very helpful. And then, of course, we'll be identifying the key issues around which all the other colleagues will be having a conversation about. Over to you, Gugu. 4 minutes from now, please.


CEO and Founder · Gugulethu Siso [3:41:43]:

Thank you, Good afternoon, everyone. I think you've been hearing a lot of my voice for the past hour, so no need for introductions in essence. As indicated, I'm the CEO as well as the founder of Temiza Enterprises. We're a fintech that provides working capital financing to the logistics sector. So my intervention in essence is just going to be a quick sharing of my— of the Temiza Tameza's story as well as my story. So Tameza started off in 2018 in Zimbabwe as a last-mile logistics company. This was in response to when Uber had just got into the market, and Uber was moving goods, you know, for people across the world, but in Zimbabwe we hadn't quite gotten there to that point. As you quickly realize, anyone who has ever done any form of ecommerce support system. Volumes are what make or break you. If you do not have the volumes, you do not have a business because the margins are too small. Quickly realized that the hard way and then quick— and then pivoted to now moving goods on behalf of retailers such as Pick 'n Pay, Spar, to name a few. We move their goods within my hometown. Shout out to Vulawayo if there's anyone from here. Doesn't look like it. But yes, quickly started moving goods on behalf of Pick 'n Pay, let's say, from warehouse to warehouse, in essence, just last-mile fulfillment. Then once again realized that there's not too much money in that sector, moved up the value chain again to now freight, which in essence is moving goods for the Pick 'n Pays within Zimbabwe as well as cross-border to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, as well as a couple of others. Then COVID hit. I think many of us in business, if you're in logistics, I see there's a gentleman smiling over there. He already knows what I'm about to say. COVID hit, which means that logistics, which is already an industry which is plagued by, you know, lengthy payment timelines— in essence, what you were getting in, let's say, 45 days, you are now getting in 90 days if you're lucky. And remember, there's no one in an office, so businesses could get away with saying, ah, we'll see you