Telling Africa's Future: Media, Innovation and Development | Goals Lounge

Good morning. Welcome, everyone. Excellencies, media leaders, partners, and friends, welcome to Gullfjord. Today, we gather around a simple but important question. Who gets to tell Africa's story? The journalists, editors, broadcasters, and storytellers in this room do more than report on Africa. You help shape how Africa is understood around the world. With five years to go to achieving the SDGs, the narrative that defines Africa matters. They influence perceptions, inform partnerships, and affect where attention and investment flow. Too often, Africa is viewed through the lens of its challenges rather than its opportunities. Yet across the continent, young women, and young people everywhere are driving innovation, entrepreneurship, and change. Their stories deserve to be heard. Those who live this story should have a leading voice in telling it. That is why today's conversation matters. It is my incredibly and great honor to invite the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, who has championed Africa's leadership and voice in the world. DSG, the floor is yours.

Well, thank you everyone and for joining us in the goals lounge. It's great to have everyone. I'm old school paper, so I'm not going to look at anything else. But it's really important for us having you in the room and those that are online. I mean, it's incredible we're able to do that, that we're bringing so many more people into the room. And we are starting by, I think, a really strong message that Africa must be able to tell its own story, not one that is hijacked and a narrative differently. Who tells that African story matters. And I have a daughter who's in the film industry, and the frustration we always had was our stories were being told by others. But today, I think African filmmakers across the continent are telling that story, and they're coming together, and they're doing it from very different platforms. Today, and I want to thank the African media that are there with us, Gabby and Stoppable Africa. Five years ago, we were being invited into rooms and lectured on how to approach our solutions. Today, we're inviting into the room and we're setting the direction for Africa, shaping that narrative. And it has been because of your participation as those who have helped us to amplify the voice and to tell that single story that goes well beyond what is defined for us. Conflict, poverty, debt. I mean, there's such a negative narrative. All true, but you know, there's another side. The glass is some full, never seems to fill up in the eyes of many, but I think that we don't even see what is today the informal sector, which actually is the glue that keeps our continent together. And so alongside all of the stories that we do hear, our many challenges, but there are the ones where we're pushing forward on enterprise, innovation, culture. We looked at the many meetings that we had. No one was discussing the GDP behind the creative industry and how that needed to be brought back to the continent. And I think that you've begun to do that in a really vibrant way that connects young people with the medium that they deal with Well, this is their generation. So the lens of changing Africa as a problem, Africa as a beneficiary, Africa as in many cases, no hope for democracy or governance is one that we want to see this as a protagonist of how we're going to get to the 2063 agenda, which by the way, is far more ambitious than 2030. And I think that that's what people miss sometimes, is that we have sat and framed where it is we'd like to get to. This morning, we had the finance sector in Africa talking about the cost of capital, but also talking about very key issues that we need to unplug with our heads of state and government, with our financial institutions on how to get forward. Again, is media in the room to carry that message of that incredible discussion that was happening amongst 15 to 20 leaders there? The narrative will help for us to deal with the perception. Perceptions have currency, so it's really important to grab those and make sure that we're the one with the narrative that is shaping that, influencing it. a more nuanced narrative to help the world see markets and talent, but also to see that we exist in this globalized world and the impacts of what happens, of which we have no say. Often we are dealing with with no support as others would have. So if we looked at the response from COVID long after COVID was done with us, the support systems and the kind of subsidies that happened in many countries that already had the wherewithal, you know, stood them up very quickly to recover. We're still recovering. The same with the war in Ukraine, with the food systems and the food security challenges we had and the energy challenges. Again, we're seeing this replay itself in the wars in the Middle East. Yes, we're much stronger. We've created some muscle, not enough. And what we need to see is a financial architecture that changes for Africa that allows us to to participate as well. Credibility is going to have to remain at the heart of this new narrative. So data matters and how we use it. but data not just as an aggregate, to really pick up the stories of where these challenges are and where the opportunities have been made. I think that as we go about Africa's future, there are perhaps four things that I would hold on to. One is the importance of multilateralism and that there is a global town hall for this global village where we have voice, we have a seat, not always the same muscle, but if we don't have visibility on the issues, big problem. The second is conflict. The conflict on our continent can be resolved by African leaders and communities. We need to be left alone to do that. We need the support which invests in development so that becomes an investment that has a return in peace and security. But these problems that we have, we have a vehicle, it's the African Union. Many may argue that it's a little broken, but it's ours. We need to own it. We need to fund it and fuel it and make sure that it works and call for the responsibility of those that are there. I would say that the third is about the means of implementation. We're really happy with the new leadership. Can we continue to talk about the headline messages that the new president of the African Development Bank has, which talks about the financial African architecture that needs to be put in place, institutions coming together, capital outside of our continent coming back to the continent, creating an enabling environment where we can use that. And last but not least, it is the new opportunity of whether we will embrace it and get ahead of everyone else, or we will allow it to drag us in a different direction. And that is AI and new technology. It will change the way things are going to happen in the world, talk less Africa, but we have the youth who are connected to technology, who would be able to help us with that narrative far faster than perhaps many of the partners that we have today. There is an intergenerational dialogue and partnership and co-creation that needs to happen. And perhaps in our continent, we have a lot to learn. We talk about the youth and that they are over 70%. but quite frankly, it doesn't look like that in any representation that we see today. I think leaders have to be brave enough to come back round behind our young people. They have the energy and the vision. We've got, yes, we're the mangroves with all the wisdom. That's fine, but we need to push forward young people with their vision and with their energy. And so today I really would love to hear from you, how can we do that? How can you help us to amplify these voices, to get this narrative out there that gets ahead of every story? On our stage this morning at Unstoppable Africa, I can't tell you how proud I was to look at two Africans representing Al Jazeera and CNN. They're just amazing. Both Larry and Foli have done a great job for the African voice and for African representation. But there's so many more of us. How can we get up and in front of that? Thank you. And thank you, Omar. This is something we've been talking about for such a long time.

Thank you so much, Deputy Secretary-General, for your powerful remarks and for reminding us of the importance of shaping narratives that inspire action and progress and that include young people at the center. Now we're going to turn to our first dialogue, which will explore how African media can help shape more balanced, inclusive, forward-looking narratives about the continent's future. Let me also thank Nana Yaa Sarawaa Sarpong, media executive and founder of Women in Sustainability Africa. for collaborating with us on today's event. To guide today's conversation, I'm delighted to invite Kay Akinsemi, managing director of News Central, to the stage. The floor is yours. Come on over.

Good afternoon, everyone. I've been told to project so that everybody can hear me. I hope everyone can hear me loud and clear. Welcome to this very first conversation here in the Gold's Lounge. Africa's story is being told across newsrooms, digital platforms, podcasts, and social media platforms as well. Yet, despite the continent's progress in innovation entrepreneurship, climate action, and sustainable development, the global perception are still too often shaped by narratives of crisis and conflict. Today's conversation will explore who gets to tell Africa's story, how those stories are framed, and what more we can do to ensure that Africa's progress, opportunities, and solutions receive the visibility they deserve. I'm delighted to be joined by an outstanding panel of media leaders and storytellers helping to drive this conversation. Some of them are here with us and some are joining online. But let me start by introducing from my right, Nana Sappong, who is the general manager of EIB Network in Ghana. And she's also the founder of Women in Sustainability Africa. Please help me welcome Nana. And I have my friend from Kenya. She's the chief corporate affairs and partnerships. She's in charge of the Corporate Affairs and Partnership Office of Nation Media Group in Kenya. Please let me welcome Monica Ndunga. Then we have online, and I think he's with us now, Wahiga Mwaura, the presenter from BBC News Focus on Africa. I think, yes, he's right here with us. Thank you. So let me start with you, Nana. What story about Africa do you think the global media still gets wrong? And I know for a fact because I consume news a lot. So what do you think they're getting wrong about Africa?

Thank you, Kayode, and a warm thank you to everyone here and especially to the UN Office of Partnerships for working together with me on this one. Indeed, this story needs to be told and told until results is gotten. Africa is often treated as one story, one country, and we forget, or the foreign media, and even we African media sometimes, do forget that what may happen in one country is not the same. The political situation in Nigeria is different from the political reality in Ghana, for instance, and the economic stories are different. And what I like to say is, when a camera is in a room, like right now as we are in the room, the lens of the camera is only capturing what is being directed to capture. So that is why storytelling is so important and powerful. Who tells the story? Who controls the storytelling? Sometimes it's not even with the writer or whoever is putting the story together. It is about the news editor, it's about the government of the day, it's about the editorial direction for the day, it's about who is sponsoring the news and the difficulty in even reaching the story. So all these nuances are there. Now, according to the Global Media Index, The survey that was conducted, about 1,000 online stories from 20 international news outlets, showed that most of the times, only a few countries are used to typicalize what Africa is and for research as such. So it is important that we realize that each country in Africa, 52 countries, are different. And there are more stories to be told. There is a woman who is leading the industrialization agenda. There's a woman who is driving the green economy, leading the climate change action. There is something that is happening. There's a young person who is rewriting the African story in industrialization. It's important that we do have the perspective of these stories told from the lens that it should be. Instead of focusing the lenses on what is key, the story that the foreign media agency needs to tell. And I must say, it's not only foreign media agencies, even in Africa, our newsrooms, who is controlling the story? We are all in the newsrooms. And sometimes you see that budgets are controlling the narrative. Who gets to do what story? How the documentary is shaped? What cost or what budget it comes with? All that has to be taken into consideration.

All right, let me move very quickly, Nas Kwaga. Why do stories of crisis often travel further than stories of progress? And what can African media do differently to make stories of innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development resonate more than those negative stories that even African media tend to use?

Hi, thanks so much for that question. Hello, everyone, and glad to be part of this conversation. I mean, I think there are a couple of factors that have contributed to that over time. The first I'd say is that we live in a time where there's an overload of news, multiple news platforms, multiple publishers, both mainstream and independent, who are churning out news at astronomical levels, never been seen before. So when the average journalist like myself wakes up in the morning, I'm not just thinking about what story I want to do. I'm also asking myself how that story will actually reach audiences, challenge number one. And of course, life's gotten busier for everyone. But secondly, one could argue that stories of crisis speak to a part of the human brain that stories of innovation and progress and technology don't quite. Stories of crisis do have, and scientists have spoken to this, they have an urgency, they have an immediacy, some of them even have a call to action. And because we live in a world that is in a state of flux, I mean, I would say since 2020, since the COVID-19 pandemic, it feels like we've been hurtling from one issue to the other. Right now, there are reports of conflicts depending on where in the world you are and so forth, so that these stories then drive audiences to look for something that helps them make sense. And thus, a story of crisis may do much better than a story of progress and a story of innovation. And I'll give you an example. On the BBC Africa YouTube page, on a daily basis, we publish all manner of stories trying to speak to our diverse audiences. The other day, we had a story about the announcement of a world championship in Kenya. First time on the African continent, a big deal. So we went out, we spoke to some of Africa's biggest athletes, whether it's Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia, whether it's Julia Siego from Kenya, et cetera, and we published it. We assumed it would do very well, and it's done quite well. After three, four days, it's got about 50,000 views, about 50 comments. That's a pretty good video. But I do recall that a couple of months back, I did speak to a big Afrobeats musician about the insecurity in the north of their country. And the moment we published that video, it went viral. As we speak, it's got about 850,000 views. and over 2,000 comments without even, not sponsored, you're not pushing it, just sort of gets its own life and travels really far. So that is the challenge that we are dealing with, including an algorithm that favors crisis stories that then really go out. And what we need to do, the challenge to us is, is to find a way, this is something that we've been trying to do at the BBC, to ensure that the same ingredients that package a crisis story are the same ingredients that we shall use, that's of people, you add in your tension, a protagonist, if there's a villain, et cetera, you use that so that stories of progress, growth, development, achievement of the SDGs, et cetera, travel as far as these other reports as well. It's a work in progress, but those are some of the factors that I believe contribute to the way in which news travels in this day and age.

Okay, thank you very much for that. The points you made are very well noted. They're very important, but we'll come back to that in just a bit. Let me ask you, Monica, what responsibility and opportunity do media companies have to shape a more nuanced and powerful global narrative about Africa, especially African media.

I think the responsibility increasingly is actually critical because, and to follow up with what Wahiga has said, if increasingly all we put out there is a story of war, is a story of starvation because it's doing well, Then we will sit and say, okay, it had a million views. Or when we did the story for sports, it had 50,000. And therefore, let's see where we shall over index. And what we over index increasingly in a world that is AI driven is what then becomes what people see. Now, when you think about it, it's a relearning that media houses, journalists, storytellers, all of us have to do because There's a lot more happening in the continent than three minutes of a bulletin where you have to pack in everything and you determine that those three minutes will then go with the politician, the floods. And when you look at what data is telling us, the Reuters report, ear on ear on, says audiences are avoiding news. This news avoidance is one of the biggest challenges of media houses. And when you speak to audiences, what do they say is if I'm going to read a piece or if I'm going to go online, and the first four or five stories are all stories of death, murder, all those things I've spoken about, then I'm going to find alternatives. And what are the alternatives? So from where I sit, it's not just about the media, it's about the information ecosystem. And us thinking about the information ecosystem as infrastructure. Because for very long, everybody thought about a story as the thing you did at the end. So you only came when the floods came, because then there was a disaster. So let's all run out. Whether you're a non-governmental organization or you're the media house, I think it's time we completely rethought how we think about information. Because in an era where information is so abundant, if that information is going to be everything that our audiences think, okay, it's happening, but it's over-indexed, then we don't have a choice. So it's not just about the media, it's about the, because now you speak about content creators, all of us have tools to become storytellers. So how then do we rethink how we've told the African story? And this is not just about global media, it's also about us in the continent. So that, and I know journalism, I went to journalism school once when I was starting my undergraduate, it always used to be that news is when a man bites a dog. In 2026, my belief is the man wants to understand how they can coexist with a dog. They want to walk the dog. They want to make sure that the dog and themselves are mutual because a dog is protecting him and he's not gonna end up one once in a while he might bite it but it can't be that the story that we then say is always doing well is a story of a man biting a dog.

Okay, thank you very much. Let me still stay in the room and move on to Omar who's sitting right here. Omar Ben Yeda is the CEO of African Business. Please welcome, he's here already but Omar. Let me ask you, how do we move beyond awareness and create storytelling that inspires investment, participation, and action towards the SDGs? And while you're thinking of that question, I have a story that happened. One of our young reporters in New Central who did a story on something that happened in a local community, but she chose to record her opening in a way that the young content creator will do it. She recorded that on her mobile phone and put that on TikTok with the rest of the report. And that particular report, with that short opening, it went viral. But the one that we did that was usually for television did not get the same traction, which is close to what Waike said. So please help us. How do we tell those stories about the things that would drive the continent and tell that story well to get the traction we want?

Thank you for that question, which has many facets to it. I mean, you mentioned the SDGs. I don't see the SDGs in isolation. When I speak to people at the UN, they always tell me we should have more SDG stories, which we reply to, well, we want to have a sort of a complete story and the SDGs aren't related. But really this year, for example, we've done a lot on health financing, which is related to the SDGs, but it's actually related to the falling ODA, it's related to greater nativism, isolationism, but it's a very important story. So when I look at the SDGs, I like to look at it more holistically as opposed just focusing on the SDGs. When you talk about investment, I mean, there's a number of different issues as well there. It's not just showcasing the opportunity, which we do, but it's also about telling the fuller story because an investor is not just going to follow someone blindly, but they'll want to understand the full picture, which also means interesting data sets and telling a story that the opportunity exists and Really leading it from an African perspective in any case, so everything that we've tried to do is about, uh, decolonizing the mind to, uh, to a certain respect, and, uh, and it comes from telling an African story, but speaking to Africans, we're not necessarily speaking to an, to, to an international audience. And, and if I have to say, I think that actually today's landscape is, uh, it's quite healthy when I look at, uh, we're always looking at benchmarking against what other people do in the media space, and we welcome competition actually, because we're in the business of gray matter, and no one's gonna monopoly on ideas, no one's gonna monopoly on, uh, on, uh, on… on intelligence so we want to be challenged intellectually by other media houses and I see what other media houses are doing local ones domestic ones and also international ones and and I'm encouraged by what I see so I don't think the African opportunity and the African story isn't out there but maybe we do need to tell it a little bit better as well even when it comes to the business story actually the business story probably carries less weight but the creative stories been a fantastic a fantastic asset to the creative industries, has, has been a fantastic asset to the continent, because it's painted us in a completely different light, and actually it showed that we're globally competitive, and when I speak about decolonizing the mind, it's also about that confidence that the, uh, Deputy SG was, uh, talking about, uh, but when I talk to businessmen on the, uh, on the continent, um… They don't often want the story to be told because they're quite happy building their own businesses on the continent. But actually, when you look at the story today of someone like Dangote, he's out there telling his story because he needs to attract international capital as well as domestic capital. And this is actually extremely important because that perception premium actually does exist, being in terms of what we pay. And it's not just to do with the credit ratings because you can have similar credit ratings to a certain country, but the creditors, so those actually charging you, for what, for that money, will charge you a premium because in their minds, they think that your risk is different. And there's many reasons for that, but the lack of data is one of them, for example.

Thank you very much, Omar. Let me go online. Charity is online with us. Charity Kizier is a YouTuber. I hope we've got Charity. Oh, she's not, oh, she's right there. So Charity, welcome to the conversation here. What will it take or a story about African progress towards the SDGs to become as visible, shareable, and influential as a story about African challenges and problems.

Thank you very much. Listen, Africa's challenges has been a very big thing for decades. People are always talking about the crisis, the problem, the issues about Africa, so it's going to take a while I failed to get over that phase. That's why I always tell people that there is already so much negativity about Africa on social media. I'm not going to be one to add to that pile. So every single content I try to make, I try to do something positive. So there's something Wahiga said. He talked about emotionally compelling stories when it comes to crisis. You're always hitting the nerve, the right nerve of people who are watching the crisis in Africa, the war, the famine, they always say this and this already. kind of hits a particular spot in people's heart so how can the SDGs tell a different story using the same emotionally compelling method but this time around you're telling a positive story about Africa get people to actually really care because most people just pass information as if it's like the news right now on social media and nobody wants to listen to the news right I mean the young generation of people don't want to hear the news the way the news is being broadcasted. So how do you tell these stories in such a way that you get the attention, you bring the element of surprise and then you're like, yay, go Africa, we did something amazing. People already get used to stories of trouble, tribulations, and they get excited about it. So the best thing is to make sure that you use the same emotional, compelling way or method you can pass information. For example, I do mind using sarcasm. I always tell people stories about Africa using sarcasm on my social media. They could ask, do you have water in Africa? And I'm like, no, we drink our saliva with a whole tap of water running in the background. And they will look at me and be like, you're saying something wrong. I can see water running. I'm like, then you're learning. You saw water. The man is water in Africa. You have to find a different way. Look for different angles on which you could tell these SDG stories without making it look like you're naming statistics. You're trying to inform, oh, 1 million Africans, it's like, it's going to be boring for some people. And then another thing I feel like needs to be done is to let Africans tell African stories. For so long, the world has told our stories for us. It's always been, oh yeah, we know better than the Africans. Africans are this, this, this, based on these numbers and that number. And then there is no lived experience. So how do you expect people to really believe that the messages that are being passed are for real? And even if they are, even if they are not, people are going to still say, it's fine. Or if it's a lie, for example, you're telling a story of crisis in Africa and you're not mentioning something positive about it, people will still keep believing there is a crisis. Even if you say something positive afterwards, they don't want to listen to that part. But we need an African Telling African stories, telling the SDG stories from their own lived experience, from their own perspective, so that that way it can actually make more sense because it's going to really let people know that this is actually authentic. This is an African living in Africa telling you their experience, telling you how these things are working for them or is working for them. And another thing I'm going to keep saying is if you want to pass messages to the younger generation Unfortunately, you have to try to adapt to the new method of information. There is social media right now, the Gen. Zs, who do not really know anything about Africa because, thank God, to my comment section, I know that, need a wake-up call. And the only way you can pass these messages, talk about the SDG stories without making it look as if it's another one story of Africa, that, yeah, Africa did this one thing, good for them, they are impressive, but they still have crisis. the best way is to try to find a way to tell, I don't know how to put this, but there should be different ways of telling stories that are more compelling to the younger generation. It can't just be about numbers anymore, about, look what we just did over here in Africa, we just helped these people, yeah, yeah, yeah, boom, boom, and that's it. What, maybe you try humor, just like someone also said, the story, there are some stories that they made on their posts, and the one about the way they made it like a content, went further than the regular one that they just literally just created normally just to pass information. So the media also has to help us. The media has to help us because the media is also one of the tools that has been. Unfortunately, I always tell people, if you want to know what the worst thing is happening in the world right now, go and turn on the news. It's quite sad. At any moment you want to put in some good thing in there. it doesn't actually seem as compelling as the crisis that you've already told earlier. So I don't know if this is a bit, if this is coherent in North Border.

No, you made very good points, Charity. Thank you very much. We have one other person online as well. Thanks, Charity. We have Joy Asonia, who is the president, Female Journalist Association of Nigeria. Is Joy online? Do we have Joy now or she's yet to join? Okay, just in case Joy has not been able to join yet, let me come back to... Let me come back to...

I'm here.

Oh, awesome. Fantastic. We've got you. Yes? Yes. Awesome. So good to see you, Joy.

So good to see you, Haydee.

Yeah. So... There was a conversation I was just having with Monica, and I said that, how do we get all the media houses across the continent of Africa to come together to talk about not just our problems, but a solution about that will help to galvanize, to push the next generation of leaders on the continent? Monica and I were discussing that. Maybe you will help us as the president of the female journalists in Nigeria. So how can African media organizations work together across borders to create narratives that attract investment, build confidence, and showcase Africa as a source of solution rather than simply a continent of challenges? Joy.

Well, I'm so happy once again to be part of this conversation and to contribute to these very important issues. Now, I will just start by saying very often when this question is posed to journalists and friends in the media, it is misconstrued to think we mean sell Africa. Don't report the bad things happening in the continent. Don't report the corruption. Don't talk about malnutrition. Don't talk about insecurity. Don't talk about poor governance. But these are important issues that, of course, has to be reported. We have to hold government accountable. The question I often ask, and I always ask my colleagues, is, is that the complete story of Africa? Can we also balance the potential? And we use broad strokes when we talk about investments and reporting in such a way that it reflects the true opportunities in the continent. we use broad strokes, Africa has enormous potential, but it's way beyond that. There's no investor who wants to hear that and understand the true story, the complete story of Africa. An investor wants to know where is this opportunity, who has been doing work around that, how can it be scaled, what can be done, what are the challenges already inherent in that. So by first My first response to that would be, we need to be intentional to collaborate across borders. We have African stories, African problems that cross borders. So why do we limit ourselves? Very often, media organizations across Africa spend resources to address or tell stories 10 different countries are telling the same kind of issues when it could have been way better if we just collaborate. People want to know how rich your story is, how how much, how broad it is. If you're talking about opportunities in the country and I'm happy other speakers have spoken about the pressure, the media landscape absolutely has changed. So, there's a pressure to post or publish stories that would get attention. Unfortunately, that is the reality we are faced with. But we have to be intentional to ensure that when we do give these stories, we are collaborating with other media organizations. We are not just telling the stories that have been created or rather pushing narratives of Africa that has been created elsewhere. We must collaborate. Another issue is that of funding for newsrooms. We have a shrinking advertising revenue at the moment. I mean, Kayode, you already know that. It's a struggle right now. And the pressure is more on newsrooms to ensure that these stories that we give out are portraying the true opportunities and not necessarily the many unfortunate challenges that we have.

Okay, Joy, because of time, let me just wrap it up with you this way. Will there be a silver bullet in one or two sentences that you will say, this is what we need to do to create the kind of collaboration that will lead to a groundswell of creating the kind of stories that will help Africa's narrative? Is there something you have in your mind that will help to create that?

Well, absolutely. First of all, like I said, collaboration among media organizations across the continent. Second of all, we have to invest. We have to see ways that we can invest in newsrooms. And governments have to take responsibility, stakeholders as well across Africa have to take this as an opportunity to invest in newsrooms just so that we are not pressured to publish stories, not because they portray Africa completely, but just so that it is what the content traffic wants. So those are my suggestions where we have, yes.

Thank you very much. I'll come back to Ben. I could see that he was nodding. Is there a microphone around? I was going to ask Ben. Okay, let me ask the same question from, okay, you've got the microphone? Yes. Ben, same question for you, but in terms of what call to action will be given for African media, this is round table conversation with media leaders. What will be that call to action that will make media across the continent come together to say, SDG goals, let's do something about it. Let's get the positive results about our entrepreneurship, about investment, what will need to be done in just one or two sentences.

Okay, I've interviewed a few politicians. Whenever I ask them a question, they answer something completely different. So I'll answer something completely different first. So I want to raise one example actually that's very recent and topical and actually took place in, I believe, in this building only last week, which was the Resize the Map campaign. So here we've got people to get together, galvanized around one particular issue and championed by a politician, a campaign taken forward by a number of different institutions, including the media, and we actually got it over the line in terms of resizing their map and also asking the questions, if they underestimated our size, what else did they underestimate? So I think you can galvanize people around a topic. In terms of working together, yes, possibly there's room to work together with the Nation Media Group and others. And actually, we're creating content that we want to syndicate to national media. that's for a number of different reasons. As I said, the SDGs do not happen in isolation. So I'm not going to talk about 17 SDGs and have one story on each SDG. I think it's a little bit more complex than that. And as the lady of our influence said, it's also how do you tell the story that resonates with others. But I don't want to speak too much. But at the same time, I think some difficult questions require deep thought and reflection that can't be summed summarized in a two-minute video so I actually encourage my teams to also take a bit of time to write deeper thought art or let's say more intellectual articles because we have difficult solutions or difficult problems to which we need proper solutions and deep reflection.

Okay, well, I'm aware that we have overrun. I wish there was a lot more time. So I want to say thank you to all our speakers from Bernoumar to Ahega, to Joy, to Mr. Kezi. both in Nigeria and also Nana here and Monica. Thank you, everyone of you, for your contribution to this conversation on the power of storytelling and the importance of ensuring that Africa's progress, innovation and solutions receive the visibility that it deserves. We now turn to To our next segment, expanding platforms, content, and collaboration, it's my pleasure to welcome Aya Chebbi, former African Union Youth Envoy and podcaster with Africa Link, Dashavella Radio, who will guide us through the next conversation. Thank you very much, Aya.

Bonjour.

Bonjour.

Marhaba. What an incredible room of leaders and what an incredible conversation. Right now, this conversation, we are going to address what is the media ecosystem we need to make our narrative really travel. A couple of months ago, I hosted DSG Amina Mohammed and DW. Africa Link podcast, and she said something really relevant to the conversation, that Africa is always seen to be giving a hand up, not a handshake. So our narratives actually affect policy, and our policies affect our narratives. How do we take control over how our stories are told? Where are they distributed? Who gets to tell them, and ultimately, who benefits from them? To answer these questions, I have an incredible lineup of experts. Eunice, Magoma Nyamachaba, Senior Distribution Specialist in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Welcome.

Thank you. Please give her a hand of applause. And to my right, Victoria Adejaye, Group Managing Director, TVC Communications from Nigeria. Welcome. And joining us online, Kingisley Oranta, general manager at TV Nigeria. You're welcome. So Lunice, let me start with you. We have strong media organizations in Africa, but we still don't really have a continental powerful ecosystem. What is missing? What would it take to build this ecosystem that is really capable of amplifying the SDG progress in Africa, the Africa-led solutions? What is missing?

Good afternoon. Before I begin, a small disclaimer. The views I'm going to share today are purely mine, not my employer's. And now that we have the lawyers in check, now we can continue the conversation. So as for the ecosystem, I feel that we don't need one major TV station for Africa anymore, you know, and this is because our audiences are everywhere. People are online, people are on their apps, people on radio, people on TV. So we need an ecosystem that brings everything together because our audiences are everywhere and we need to be able to come to that point where we can meet them wherever they are. So that is why you find a lot of media houses now have different strategies trying to bring everyone together and different strategies for their social media teams, their TV teams, their radio teams. So when you have that in mind, then you sort of will be able to trickle down to what exactly works for your audiences.

Thank you so much for that insight. Kingesi, I'm coming to you and it's really about African media organizations. They're often competing for audiences, but there is an opportunity in collaboration. So how do we move from competition to collaboration? so that a powerful story creating in our wisdom in Nigeria or in Tunisia can really travel the continent.

Right, thank you so much indeed. I'm glad to be here this afternoon. I Kingsley Goranta from Channels Television. I think that there is an opportunity for us to move from predominantly compete for attention model to a collaborate where African needs a strong voice model. Many African media organizations run on their own. But I believe that many stories can be told, stories of innovation, development, and successful agricultural innovation in Nigeria, for example, may have relevance in Ghana, may have relevance in Rwanda. But most times, African media organizations are trapped in this idea of competing for relevance rather than collaborating where Africa needs a strong voice. That is very important because the content of all the innovations, all the good stories, that happening in many African countries only end up at the nation's borders. So how can a positive story in Uganda be amplified in Nigeria to serve as an inspiration for the media organization in Nigeria to take this story forward? So I believe that this can be done in such a way, if we're able to have content exchange agreements, for example, right now, channels, television has quite a number of collaboration with media organizations, especially across the West Coast of Africa, where events happening and stories taking place in those countries are, you know, shared with us and vice versa. So I think that this is very important. I also believe that co-production around major African issues, technology, climate, entrepreneurship, would give us an opportunity to bicycle all these stories because these are positive stories that would indeed bring Africa to the forefront and we're able to tell our stories. A lot of people have talked about allowing other media organizations to tell our own stories. Yes, there is famine, crisis, security issues, But I think there are more positive stories about Africa that can be told, but we need to collaborate. That the spirit of Ubuntu should not only be for political issues, but for media issues, journalism, so that we can cascade the landscape and tell the world the kind of story Africa is made of, which most times are positive stories.

We need pan-Africanism.

That they are pass-castly told.

We need pan-Africanism, Kingsley. Thank you so much. Victoria, let's unpack the idea of stories traveling. We produce compelling stories every day across the continent, but many really never cross the borders. And let's also remember globally, 82% of young people between 14 and 24 are the majority online. So the audience online is actually at the core young. What would it take to really reach this online youth population and create a network where our stories can quickly travel across the continent?

Thank you very much. Aya, Victoria Ajayi from TVC, Lagos, Nigeria. I particularly like this question, and I would like to perhaps start with making something clear. We in Africa don't have a storytelling problem. We know that. Neither do we have a platform problem. We actually have a storytelling opportunity. And when it comes to the population and the statistics that are always being bandied around, we must understand that you cannot mobilize the youth or people who do not see themselves in the future. If they're not able to see themselves in that future, you can mobilize them towards it. And I would like to speak around what's currently happening in Nigeria right now. How many of you here heard about Dangote's refinery IPO? Right, almost everyone. In fact, those who are not in Nigeria know about it more than those of us in Nigeria.

I saw him on Times Square yesterday.

Absolutely, he is around, I believe, for UNGA. Now, the reason I like this particular story is first Dangote started with calling it the people's IPO. Now, what they then did was this was listed as at 525 naira per share with a minimum of 10 shares. What does that tell you? Immediately, ordinary Nigerians and people already feel they can participate in it because of the way it was told. Now, what I find particularly interesting about all of this It's that it's not the media only that told this story. It's everybody, ordinary Nigerians. Everyone began to tell the story of Dangote IPO refinery. In fact, my daughter, who is a preteen, she's not a Gen. Z, she's a Gen. Alpha, came home to tell me about Dangote's refinery, the IPO. Now, the reason they're all able to do this is because of one thing, it started with the way Dangote crafted it. And then it moved on to such a way that the WhatsApp groups were talking about it, fintechs were pushing access to it, ordinary Nigerians were asking themselves, how can I buy the shares? People outside Nigeria began to ask, as people in the diaspora, how can we key into the shares? That is a power of storytelling in a way that even we in the media are beginning to learn about how stories can travel. And you see, the way this traveled through the UTE is what I find particularly inspiring. And it's because, and the real story here is within one hour of that listing, they had already reached, if some of you saw that, they had already reached 1.48 trillion naira, Right, within one hour. Now, 1.48 trillion naira is an equivalent of $1.1 billion. And the target is what? $1.6 billion. So within one hour, you already had 1.1. The target is 1.6. That is an amazing story. However, the reason I believe this is something that is quite intriguing is because of the way the story traveled. and the way people told the story about it. And so we must begin to understand that if people do not see themselves in it, the reason this worked, the youths and the entire population felt this Africa's piece of, you know, industrialization and this infrastructure is something they could potentially key into. They could have a stake in it. That was why everyone began to preach, if I can use that word, about it. So the answer to this is we cannot mobilize people, we cannot mobilize the youth if they do not see themselves in it and they do not understand it. So first is them understanding it and seeing themselves in it. And this applies to even the SDGs and every other thing. Once they see themselves in it, it will travel fast. The platforms would suddenly appear, you know, and they begin to use all of this because Africa is not about one story, it's not about one audience, it's not one language. You know, it's not one experience. So we need to ensure that when we are telling the stories, let's include that population, let them see themselves in it. Let them see that there's a bit of a stake for them in it. And then the story will travel. It would give itself wings. You don't need to do much about it.

Thank you, Victoria, for bringing the African ownership of the story. Thank you to our speakers for your insights. I would like now to welcome interventions from the floor, but I want us to really go practical in the next year. What is one practical thing? we can do together. I'm going to start with Eric Asuma. Eric Asuma, do you have the mic? Eric Asuma, CEO of Kenya Wall Street. In terms of moving from broadcaster to a multi-platform media ecosystem, what is one practical step this group of media leaders could take together for the next year to really take forward Africa's story?

Interesting. my view is a bit different, you know, from just doing it some media operation, but you know, what could you do beyond media? So I tend to focus more on the data side of business. How do you use data to bring out insights, right? And one of the things that we've done, we've been operating locally, but we decided, look, why don't we take our story global? The first thing we did is we launched an event in New York, called it Bullish Africa, brought all the hedge funds. And interestingly, we are getting all these global investors interested in what around investing in Africa. And which a little bit turned us from just being a local player into a global player. So I want to see more of those type of partnerships. Another thing that we are doing, which is a bit more interesting, for the longest time, when a global, say, financial media company tells the story of Africa's investment opportunity, how they tell it, they don't give a lot of thought around it. They don't share much detail. One of the things we are doing is, why don't we be the first African media company to broadcast live from the New York Stock Exchange? That changes the narrative. you are able to tell global investors that, look, these are the opportunities. This is how to participate. And an example that I usually give is as simple as I look at our banking industry in Africa. Africa has the best performing financial services industry, good returns, very liquid banks. But they are undervalued compared to US peers. When you package this data and opportunities to global investors compared to their global peers, you completely change the narrative. So it also becomes a story of you're not just taking global investors to Africa, it's a mix of both. And I think it's a win-win for both. So that's how I think around that.

Thank you so much for that. I always find it interesting that A lot of Kenyans don't know that M-Pesa, for example, it's only used in Kenya. And when I tell them this is amazing, should be in the entire continent, they think it's actually everywhere. So this is how much our story doesn't actually travel the continent. Thank you so much for that. I'm going to turn to Bola Ray, CEO of EIB from Ghana, joining us online. Do we have Bola?

Yes, I'm here. Thank you very much.

Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. Bola, the media landscape is changing rapidly. Television and radio now coexist with podcasts, streaming, social media. From your perspective as a media entrepreneur and from the creator economy, what is one thing we could do together in the next year to better connect traditional media with creators to take Africa's story further.

Well, thank you very much and good evening from Ghana. I'm happy to be among distinguished media leaders and creators, as well as journalists and partners and friends as well. You mentioned right, Africa is rich with stories of courage, creativity, innovation, and certainly progress. We find it across our cities, there are a lot that many are doing in our towns, in our communities, people are developing solutions to some of the most urgent, you know, challenges of our time. But how are we using the media to tell the story? Young people are creating businesses and technologies. Many people in Africa are just happy to share challenges and look for, not look for solutions or tell positive stories. I think many of our speakers Have spoken widely about it. It's about time we change the narrative. Victoria mentioned the IPO from the Dango Tea refinery, great story that cascaded across Africa and globally. These are positive news that we need to share. I want to sit here in Ghana, GH1 television and EIB network and collaborate with Kinsley from Channels television, from News Central, I can have Kiyode and say, what is that trending story? in Nigeria that we can actually propel and propagate across Africa. Communities are expecting access to education. What is that education story in Nigeria, in South Africa? What is that story about health care out there on women that are leading enterprises, movements, and institutions that we can come together as a media conglomerate and tell that story? for the world to also know. So I think that is about time that we get together. Yes, people will talk about limited resources, but that is why we need to gather and collaborate. I think that the key thing for me and take away from this summit will be collaboration, you know, among media practitioners across Africa. We have stories, yet they remain local. They remain isolated. They are often unheard beyond our communities. This platform, this afternoon and today, should let us come together. I'm happy to have friends here on the panel from Kenya, from South Africa, from Ethiopia, people watching from South Africa. This should be that example for us to hold hands and say, let's be practical. And on this, I want to recommend that if you can have the Pan-African Creator Impact Network, it will be a great story. I think, you know, in the other platform, somebody talked about the AU being there, but it's broken of a sort. If the AU cannot put together one media house to tell the African story, we as entrepreneurs, as channel leaders, as media owners, as practitioners, let's hold hands, let's come together. if we have the coordinated storytelling initiative that brings us together as media leaders and journalists and creators, I think that digitally we can publish great stories that would develop our continent. And I would want to submit this humbly. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Actually, the African Union has a media fellowship for young people. They started a couple of years ago, and I think there are efforts that need to be strengthened, and you're right, we need to come together and mobilize resources to really scale. We have a big continent. I would like to go to Hafsat Abdillahi, social media influencer and performance poet. I love when Hafsa, you show up in my feed this year a lot, and I think I love how bold it is, how the identity, the pride of identity, the unapologetic narrative that you display. And I think Hafsa, you are shaping how a new generation sees Africa, and you do it without a newsroom, only your audience and your platform. I mean, ironically, I started my activism as a vlogger, so I know it works. We want to learn from you what role can African creators play in making sure Africans themselves, rather than the external narratives, shape how the world sees Africa?

Thank you so much for that question. I think just giving a brief background of what I do in the humanitarian space has the answer to that question. Outside my poetry, where I have like over 1 million followers across platform, and I use this platform to advocate for education, women and girls, human rights, and also retelling the story of Africa. I am also a GPE youth leader, a global youth leader for education with GPE, one of the United Nations young leaders for the SDGs. This is key because I strongly believe that as someone that have used my platform to like communicate and retell the African story from the perspective of the youth and also from the general perspective of it, that I've seen firsthand how powerful and how influential that the media is to reshaping perspective and also influencing even to action. Now, back to the question I genuinely feel like youth's participation is very, very key. But this time I'm narrowing it down to the African space because the global space is already doing something about that from the youth office and GPE. Through my storytelling and my advocacy for education, I got the attention of the GPE where I'm also like representing the youth as Youth Leader and also Youth Leader as UN Youth Office. So they've already created a platform where like youth like myself can actually like communicate and also retell the stories. But like in the African space, we do have spaces like that, granted, but these spaces see young people as a statistic or like a subject in the story rather than actual storytellers. So I am proposing that if this platforms could like integrate a way to create like opportunities where young people can be able to like tell their own stories as not just subject or something that is discussed in the boardroom or the conversations, but rather people with like real people with lives and experiences that they can share about their African experience and African story. I think that could go a long way because I also feel like we're just young people from Africa and more than potential. I'm a living proof of that. I've used my platform to like gain like a lot of noise about Africa. Recently, I even did something with the World Bank to celebrate the African Day, where I told the African story in a very positive light and portrayed Africa as not just recipients of plans, but architect of our own future. That's a line from the piece that I did that. So I genuinely feel like Africans should lean into what the global space is already doing to create like platforms where young people can like have see.

Do the magic.

Yes.

So give the platform the opportunity and young people will do the magic.

Yes.

We need to wrap up and I think there is no better way than to do it with an artist. So if you could wrap it up for us with like one or two verses of poetry.

Okay, I won't finish it because it's long, but here it goes.

Just one minute, yeah.

All right. My Africa is bigger than the maps in your textbooks. My Africa is cooler than her stories in your storybooks. Safer than the pics you'd peek on Facebook, she's better than the one-sided portrayal of the news, better than the stereotypical hashtags for views. My Africa is not your headline, not your pretty project, not your once upon a struggle, not your bubble of victim prejudice. It is paradise. It's not your single story of lack, of need, of colonization and exploitation, of slavery and poverty. My Africa is history untold. histories of stories of old, stories untold, stories of riches and glories, stories of ancestral origins and cultural beginnings. My Africa is the birthplace of celebration, the root of artistic expressions, the home of organic civilization. Thank you.

Bravo. Yeah, we snapped like spoken word poetry. Thank you so much. Please appreciate all the speakers in this segment. This brings us to the end of our conversation, but the beginning of our next conversation, which I'm really excited about as a feminist. Whose Story, Whose Future? Women, Storytelling, and Sustainability. To lead us through this discussion, it is my pleasure to welcome Nana Yaa Sbarwa, General Managing of EIB Network Ghana and President of Women in Sustainability Africa. But before that, we would welcome Nana in a second. To set the stage for our next conversation, please enjoy this short video.

In 2015, the world came together around the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It marked a new chapter for humanity. The agenda was about transformative change. At its core, the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, held a simple promise: to end poverty, protect our planet, foster peace, and leave no one behind. Ten years on, the promise has held. Not everywhere, not fast enough, but it has held. A woman who gives birth today is more likely to live to hold her baby. More children are finishing school than any time in history. Girls who would have been married at 15 are still in school. Ten years ago, fewer than half of us had anything to fall back on when the work stopped. Today, more than half of us do. Nine in ten of us can turn on a light. Three in four of us are online. And when the storm comes, far fewer people die because the warning arrives in time. These gains were possible because countries aligned national policies and budgets with the SDGs. The United Nations development system evolved to support country-level action and global SDG monitoring systems were put in place. But still, the progress made and gains hard won have been uneven. We are $4 trillion a year short to meet the SDGs. The world is spending nearly $2.7 trillion on weapons alone. At a time when needs are growing, official development assistance fell by 23% in 2025, the sharpest decline ever recorded. External debt has reached 8.9 trillion dollars and countries are paying more to pay their debt than to teach their children. The money exists. The question is where we put it. Today, nearly 850 million people are still living on almost nothing. close to one in three of us cannot be sure of the next meal. We are putting less money into the farms that feed us. Two billion still drink water that can make them sick. All almost 840 million women have lived through violence and in places, rights that were won are being taken back. Shocks such as the pandemic took away years of progress. Climate stopped waiting and conflict is at its highest in decades. But these 10 years taught us something else. Progress does not survive on aspiration. It survives when we invest in systems. A clinic that stays open when the budget is tight. A school that reopens after the flood. A social protection system that supports families before they fall into crisis. Governments cannot achieve the SDGs on their own. We need everyone to act together, cities, local communities, young people, civil society, scientists, private sector and individuals. We are now in the decisive and final stretch to 2030 and we must not lose momentum. We need financing at the scale of the challenge we face, action on debt and reform of international financial architecture. We need to close the digital divide before artificial intelligence deepens it. We need to place women and girls at the center of investment and decision making. We also need progress designed to survive the next crisis because we know more crises will come. The SDGs remain the most comprehensive shared roadmap the world has ever had. We are not starting again. We are building on foundations laid over 10 difficult years. 2030 is just around the corner, and we must make every remaining year count for people, for planet, for peace, for everyone.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Goals Lounge. And this session is quite an exciting one, especially for Women in Sustainability Africa coming together with the UN Office for Partnerships for this. Because as we tell Africa's story, it's important for us to center women right at the conversation. And as 2030 approaches, Africa must indeed chart its own accelerated plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Now, Africa's women and young people are not just a part of the labor force of Africa, but they are the driving force behind Africa's sustainable future. from climate adaptation to economic development. Women's roles are diverse and they are not only vital, but they are central to achievement of the SDGs. What happens when African women move from being the subjects of the sustainability story to becoming the authors of it? It means that woman is empowered to tell her sustainability story, supported by the media, of course, for the conversations that we've had earlier today. In shaping the businesses, policies, and capital that will define Africa's future, women will be right at the center. And this is why we're here today, this afternoon. Today, we ask the very strategic questions that will shape leadership, policy, and action that puts African women at the front and center in driving the continent's sustainable development goals and achievement. So to this afternoon, we're not just here to have a conversation. We're here to create actions. By the time we're living here, we're coming out with tangible actions that we're going to track throughout the year so that a year by this time, we meet here and we say, where are we now? We charted this course for ourselves. Nobody set it for ourselves. And so I'm happy that I'm surrounded by some of Africa's great, brilliant, distinguished women who are leading in the various spaces. And I would want to start by introducing them all. And they'll be joining me one after the other. But I'm starting with the first set of my three great women. I will start by introducing Madame Patricia Poku-Diabie, who is the founder and executive chair of Plot Limited, based in Ivory Coast and Ghana. I also want to introduce Elizabeth Kasonene from Uganda. She's a president of the African Women in Processing, Uganda, and the chairperson of the Ugandan Entrepreneurs Association Limited. I have also here Gloria Kamanzi from all the way from Rwanda. Gloria is the chairperson of the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program and the chairperson of AWEP Uganda. And there is a great diplomat amongst us. She goes by the name of Ambassador, Her Excellency Ambassador Erica Bennett, who has been leading the Diaspora and African Forum for representing USA and Africa, all Africans in the diaspora. This woman has been at the helm of affairs for many years. And I'm amazed she's just 76 years old and looking fabulous as ever. All the way from Egypt, we are joined by one outstanding woman whose contribution to Africa's trade and business need no introduction. She is Dr. Amani Asafo. Asafo, I hope I mentioned it right, forgive me. She's the president of the African Business Council and the international president of the Medical Women International Association. Then we have one amazing formidable force when it comes to Africa's capital and the conversation around the financial architecture of Africa. She is Dr. Anino Enuwa, forgive me, all the way from Nigeria. She's the MD of Avandis Consulting and the founder of 100 Women Davos, one great woman. Let's welcome all these women as they join us after the other. We'll start with the three on the stage. So, Mrs. Patricia Diaby, welcome.

Thank you.

And indeed, you're raising the flag of Ghana high. You're one woman who has excelled a lot when it comes to the space of youth established Africa's largest size cocoa processing facility as a woman, and you have led the space sustainably. Today, we want to hear from you, how have you done it? Because we are still telling Africa's story, and I'm reminding us, and we need to tell our story. How have you done it, and how can one do it, leading Africa's industrialization sustainably.

Thank you, Nanaiah. So when we talk about woman-led businesses, it should be bigger than just women in business or in leadership positions. It should be what these businesses contribute to the economy and the society we want to build. Plot, we process cocoa into semi-finished and finished products in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, as she mentioned. So our processing plants in these countries already offer job opportunities and decent wage, thereby contributing to decent work and economic growth. We invest in training for our workforce, not only building capacity, not only for our workforce, but building a broader talent pool, thereby contributing to quality education. We encourage the participation of women and encourage our suppliers to do the same in line with gender equality and all. Health and safety is embedded in our operations. We also embark on responsible sourcing on the supply chain, and this is validated by the international certifications we have. So also climate change, I mean, climate action, sorry. We have, since inception, utilized the Shell boiler for biofuel instead of diesel. We have boreholes to manage water management, waste management. And also, we are increasing the solar panels as a transition to greener energy. But green industrialization comes at great cost and sacrifice. And African businesses are being asked or encouraged to embark on this transition. which is very costly with very costly funds. Typically, funding is between 8% and 15%, which is very high. And we are to compete on the same grounds as a company operating in a deeper financial place with longer turnover, a much lower interest rate. So this is a competitiveness issue which we need to look at. I mean, to be honest about it, if we really want African businesses to transform and to translate into this green energy and all, we need to look at policies, financial policies and other policies, because it's not just the interest rate. There's so many other constraints, volatility, infrastructure, et cetera, et cetera. So it's a competitiveness issue for us as well. Let me give you an example. In 2009, when sustainability wasn't the expectation of the day, we were the first cocoa license buying company. to embark on a certification program for our farmers at our own cost without financing from anywhere much later when other multinationals joined I mean back on the same program they immediately received grants and funding external grants and funding so you can see that's not a level playing field okay and this is something we need to be honest about right so yes you know We believe that when the United Nation member states drafted the goals, it wasn't just an abstract wish. It was how human dignity and the earth should coexist by the 2030. So we should be mindful of that. But at the same time, we need to be honest about the cost of this in an environment where money is very costly. It's not even playing film. And let me end by my favorite quote from Paul Polman. He says, "The purpose of life is to give purpose to lives so that society thrives while the earth remains." I tweak that to say that in the world we are today, the purpose of a company should give purpose to lives so that society thrives while the earth remains, and in doing so, your company will succeed.

Thank you. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And so I move to Elizabeth Kasenene. Elizabeth, all the way from Uganda, bringing her beauty on board. Elizabeth, you've been leading the industrial space. We've had conversations around industrialization and, of course, Women in Sustainability Africa and the partnership with AWIP, what we are about to do. Now, if you had the opportunity to design one green industrial value chain for Africa that would employ over 1 million women and make them wealthy in 10 years, what would it be? Would it be in the water sector? Will it be solar assembly? Would it be e-waste recycle? What would it be?

Thank you, Nana. And I'd like to just take an opportunity to thank WESA for allowing us to have this opportunity to share the work that we are doing. As she shared, AWIP is African Women in Processing, and I'd like to acknowledge my sisters here today, Gloria from Rwanda and Dr. Amani from Egypt. We're an AU initiative that's industrializing women, and we have chapters in the different countries. So my answer to you today would be clean cooking. I would choose clean cooking because clean cooking opens up several markets, not just the health markets, Because as you know, in Uganda, for example, charcoal is a very big source of energy and firewood, but it kills one woman every seven minutes. The impact on our lungs is amazing. I'll give you a story. In my home, at the back, because I live with my mother, and historically, she's cooked with firewood all her life. You can't convince her. to migrate. We have electricity, we have gas, we have ethanol in the house, but she uses firewood. But all the people that are on the outside that face the firewood have asthma. So it's a health question, it's an environmental question, but it's also a household question because very many homes are still using firewood and charcoal. And in our country, for example, it's been banned. So women, we would be able to enter this space and create a lot of wealth because we can support this initiative across the whole value chain. We can come in and produce the biofuel, create pellets out of waste. We can be able to be the ones who assemble the stoves, ethanol stoves, gas stoves. We can do these in our industrial parks. We can do the maintenance because once you have the stoves, they need to be maintained. And we can do the distribution. We're the largest distributors. As businesswomen, not only are we influences in our society to get the society to understand that we need to convert from charcoal and firewood into sustainable energy, but we would do the business of the distributorship. And then finally, we could take advantage of the carbon credits. And so I believe that we can easily transition quite a number of women into this world space.

Thank you very much, Elizabeth. And before I come to Gloria from all the way in Rwanda, I want to mention that back in Ghana, Women in Sustainability Africa is having the full support of the government of Ghana. the the the minister for women and children affairs and the minister for sustainability a major stronghold and pillar for us and today the minister for sustainability and climate change in Ghana and who has a delayed flight is ably represented by his technical director Cedric who is with us Cedric I'll be coming to you in a moment when I am done with Gloria then again we also have Dr. Lucy Surreal Newman all the way from Nigeria and on the line the last We saw her. She was on the Nasdaq screen, being exhibited in Times Square. We celebrate her, great woman. She's on the line and will be joining us. She's a chairperson and advisory and executive boards of the Africa Private Sector Summit. So coming to you, Gloria, what stories about African women, businesses, and sustainability Do you think we're getting wrong? We're here today talking about telling the African story. And to you, another question I want you to wrap into your presentation is, what does leadership look like when you are actually building businesses and creating jobs in Africa?

Thank you, Mrs. Nana, and thank you for the opportunity to be on this platform. I would say the narrative must change on women. It's been too long that We don't see women being shown as women who are capable of leading companies. So the way we communicate has to change. Women are doing things and leadership is not only the title, it's all about turning vision into something bigger. And it's high time for us that we approach for those who have been promoting women collaborate with the media and showing the reality of what women are capable of doing. We see today women being investors, we see women being innovators, we see women playing roles that were used to be played by men. And so we want to see things changing and we want to inspire the young girls so that they are able to feel like tomorrow they can do better and they can really bring solutions into this world, especially for the African continent, whereby the big percentage of women are into informal sector. And how do we turn that number into a number of women with industry, with companies? They are all operating on a smaller scale. How do we support them? How do we guide them? How do we empower them? So I think the way the message is being communicated has to change.

Yes, thank you for that. And that reminds me for one of the reasons this conversation started and we got here, about moving that woman from owning a boutique to that woman owning the fabric that is used to make the fabrics in the dresses in the boutique. That is the next level of growth that we want for African women. Industrialization is the way for Africa. That is how we expand and that is how we increase our productivity. And I'm happy we all understand this and every woman in this room is driving this conversation. Thank you very much. So we would be taking A statement from Cedric, just brief statement about two minutes from our minister from Ghana, Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, the Honorable Issa Fosu-Saidy. And whilst we're doing that, I'll be joined here by Dr. Ambassador Erika Bennett and Dr. Amani Asfour from Egypt. Okay.

Hello. Hello. Thank you very much. It will not be a statement but a contribution.

Okay.

This and to say that the office of the Minister of State for Climate Change and Sustainability identifies itself with this program and in supporting your work in Ghana. Why? Because we believe that women faces double jeopardy. Mm. Anytime climate disaster strikes. Mm. When the is floods, It is easy for a man who is married with three children to tell the wife that I need to move to the city or I need to move elsewhere to find a better place for us. But then the woman stays with the children and has to go through the trouble. when there's drought, you know, in terms of agriculture, we say that Africa or Ghana is, you know, is much in agriculture, but these women who are more populated, you know, in farming. So when there's drought, it is women that, you know, are hit the more. And so we recognize that women faces double jeopardy as far as climate impact are concerned. And so it is important, you know, to speak to these realities and elevate the voices of women and also to make women champions in these areas that are affected by the crisis and the minister support this engagement and shares solidarity with you and I've come to make that statement loud and clear thank you very much.

Thank you very much Cedric thank you very much and indeed women in sustainability Africa is proud of the partnership we have with the office of the president in Ghana so Dr. Amani you came all the way from Egypt and you are a trailblazer You have such an impressive CV. Your achievement in pushing trade and businesses for Africa and especially women is admirable. So our question today, of course, will center around trade. And what we're saying is, what does sustainability mean for the African woman in trade? Is it about climate action or is it about businesses surviving after 10 years? Because whenever we talk about sustainability, it must have that 360 degree outlook. We also want to understand You have worked in the space where standards have been set. Who is setting the standards? And is that African woman involved in the creation of those standards? And has she been considered in the standard setting? Quite packed.

So thank you very much, my dear sister, and thank you for RISA and the UN Partnership Office. I'm so happy to be here. representing the voice of the African private sector including SMEs women and youth but also the medical women International Association which I am honored to be the international president so sustainability actually it shouldn't be a choice whether it's uh it's actually the planet or the profitability it should be both and women should really be there on the table not Exactly. Yes. So the whole issue is that at Africa Business Council, what we're trying to do is that we call it the triad of empowerment, which is based on three pillars. The first pillar is private sector strengthening, including SMEs, women and youth. So what we're trying to do is to see how we empower the women to make sure that they have the knowledge, the information, the capacity building, the awareness, all the really the tools that make them lead their enterprise. The second pillar is about policy advocacy, which is very important because we need the policies to empower our women, our SMEs, women led, and to see how we are able to that to have preferential procurement because is one thing I'm really pushing to have at least 30% of all government procurement goes to SMEs, women, youth and people with disabilities, like what happened in Kenya. And I pushed it when I was chair of Commerce Business Council. The third issue is really about project development and product development, because we're talking about standardization. Yes. So in order to empower women, we need to see how we help her to have her product to be competitive, standardized, value added, industrialized, certified, and competitive to the international market. So, doing this with sustainability, we have a huge, huge, huge project that we can work on it for women that will be profitable, will be sustainable, and will really make her enterprise grow. One of it actually with reference to the, what we call it, green gold. wealth in waste. That's a project that we are currently doing with, inshallah, Uganda, because you know that Africa have 60% of the global banana plants and plantain. And in Africa, we are throwing the stems. So this project, it's actually driven by a woman. She's an engineer with technology. How to transfer the banana and plantain stem into liquid fertilizer into fabrics, into cartoon. So it's a huge, actually a factory that could really help all the sustainability. It will help the environment and will create wealth to our women. And we're starting, inshallah, with Uganda for the women industrial park with my sister, Elizabeth, where we, it's a follow up of one of our projects that we're doing. The second thing is gemstones. You know that in Africa, we have all the minerals of the world. One of them is the colored gemstones. And the colored gemstones, our women in the mining are getting this gemstones raw. and then it goes to Jaipur, India to be cut and polished. So we are losing huge, huge. It's over a $400 billion industry. Our women in mining who are really facing all the hazards of the mining exploration, they are not getting any money out of it. So this is again one project that we are doing for sustainability and for environment. It's called AVRIVACAM, the African Center for Cutting and Polishing the Gemstones. We are giving them all the technology the financing, we're bringing the equipments, and we're training actually the women how to cut and polish the stone and linking them to international market to get the billions of dollars, not the pity of the money that they don't really have. The whole issue is really how we make this and how we are able to empower the women to create wealth for themselves and how the sustainability means protecting the environment and profitability for our women.

Okay.

So that's very important.

That's an important conversation. So I hope that when we're taking the final point on the action plans, you drop something there for us. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Mani. So we would come to Dr. Anino. And Dr. Anino, when it comes to women finance and capital, you are a champion for this space. And so we want to understand when we talk about entrepreneurship in Africa, women are a key. Please, can we have the microphone passed to Dr. Nnamah? When it comes to entrepreneurship in Africa, it is one of the most powerful tools by which women can be expanded, especially expanding the economic opportunities available to women. And yet, access to capital is key for this expansion. Now, from women-led solutions in the green economy to innovation, emerging sectors, what do you think needs to change in order to unlock greater economic opportunity for these women and ensure that finance reaches the women-led businesses and especially for those, I mean, to help women drive the SDGs, better conversations we're having here today.

Thank you, Nanaiah, and thank you for having me here. And excuse us for the raspy voice. I do have a little bit of a cold. Now, when we talk about financing female entrepreneurship, well, you've all been listening. You've all been listening for the last hour and a half. But I'm going to ask this question. And anybody from the audience, it's a number. When we look at venture capital, you know all those big tech companies, you know all the money coming from San Francisco, all of that, right? What percentage, and all those companies that scale up to huge amounts, what percentage, right, of those companies fail or failed or do not meet their targets? Does anybody know, just a guess, it doesn't matter, does anybody? What percentage of venture capital goes to companies that fail or don't meet their targets? 70? 60.

I hear 70, I heard 80.

80%? Good. So around 75 to 90% do not meet their targets or they fail. the second question is how many of those that fail do we hear about? We hear the success stories. So when we're talking about narratives, we need the narrative of success. It is not to say that we're ignoring the failures. No, what we're saying, we need to have the stories. The more we have the stories of success, the more we're changing minds. to basically relate success to certain types. And we need that for women-led businesses. There's often the narrative of women-led businesses being small, women-led being subsistence, et cetera. There is a role for micro enterprises. There is a role for which they serve a particular role, which is poverty reduction. But there's also a sector which is about growth, about employment, about creating wealth. And we need to also focus on that. And that sector is starving in funds. Going back to venture capital, only about 3% of venture capital in Africa goes to women-led businesses, 3%. You can imagine a circle and 3%, that's like nothing, right? So we need to make sure we get more funding to women-led businesses. And another reason, it's not simply a question of rights and equity. Of course, that's important. But it's also a question of economic performance, job creation, of innovation. We find that the more you invest in female-led businesses, the more you have inclusive social outcomes, the more you have innovation, the more you have those benefits, sustainable development goals, growth, et cetera. So there's everything good about it. Some of the issues that we have on that front, one is, we talked about that a little bit, is just the people do not relate success to those kinds of businesses. But the reality is that when we look at their success rates, that they are at worst as good as fellow men leading enterprises, at worst. At best, because of course the data is still quite small, at best, the performance is actually higher. So there's every reason to invest. And so we need to change minds.

Thank you.

And we need to make sure that we actually tell these stories of female-led businesses and success.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Enimor. Always articulate and passionate about this area of finance and capital building for women. So, yes, Her Excellency, Dr. Ambassador Erica Bennett. We're coming to you. You've led the diaspora space for many years, the African Forum. As a leader, we also know the big contribution that the diasporans make to Africa. How do you think that the diaspora can contribute to women, leading African women for this matter, leading in the SDG space? And what more can they even do themselves to drive the SDGs within Africa?

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. And it is a very good afternoon. I am just honored to be in the room with the women of power. Do you realize you're making history? Isn't this the first time that this has been done at the UN?

Yes.

Let's give ourselves a big round of applause. Secondly, what I want to talk to, I'm putting my senior hat on now. People like Imani, people like Patricia, people like, I mean, we have powerful women in this room. I want to speak about the diaspora. There's two types of diasporans. My group taken from slavery. We're considered the historical diaspora. Ghanaians, Nigerians who leave for work, study, or greener pastures, you're considered the global diaspora. And one of the things that we need to do is unite as women. You see, the diaspora want to participate. They just don't know what to do and how to do it. We have women in this room who I'd like you to think about mentoring and being involved with the diaspora. These women want to make a difference in Africa. You see, you have to remember now, you're not an African because you're born in Africa. You're an African when Africa is born in you. You see, I'm an African woman. Don't get confused by this American accent. You see, I love Africa. And again, Nana, I respect time. And I just really want to say to everyone in this room, you see, we as women have to support each other. You see, when our Deputy Secretary General came in, we should have stood up and made noise. You see, and that's the kind of thing, we have to support each other. We don't make enough noise. We're quietly doing our stuff and don't want people to know what we're doing. Well, we've got to change that. Are you with me?

Yes, I am with you.

Okay. We are with you. And one of the things today, as I said, I only have one more minute.

Yeah, one more minute.

One more minute. One of the things that I really want us to do is to celebrate each other. You see, when we climb up the ladder, Don't kick it down. Reach up and bring another woman with you. And if each of us brought one woman with us, look what we would be today. So I really want to say that. And one of the things that I want to do is take a moment. And we have to celebrate ourselves. Nana, Nana, Nana. Now y'all can do better than that now. Make some noise. The personal sacrifices that you've gone through, the financial sacrifices that you've gone through to do this, we have to salute you. We have to say that you're an African woman of excellence. We have given this award to our two former presidents. We've given it to Winnie Mandela. We've given it to powerful women. And that's where we see you. Whether you know it or not, let's stand up and give her a big round of applause. Let's make noise, African women. Again, She's an African woman of excellence. And I really want to say thank you for what you're doing. We're looking for more young women like you that we pass the torch over to. So I'm passing this over to you. Make it work.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. On that note, shall we all stand? And invite the rest of the women who had been here earlier to the stage to join me. Thank you.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Are we still on, right? Yeah. Okay.

Come on up here.

So, on behalf of the UN Office for Partnerships and on behalf of the Women in Sustainability Africa for every one of these great women here. I want to thank you all for tuning in and for everyone for being here. What's happening from here, I said we're doing action, not just talking. So each and every one of these women have submitted their action plans to Women in Sustainability Africa and we're going to publish this report after this event. So look out for that on all our pages and on the website. The action plans will be tracked throughout the year as I mentioned earlier. So this has been one powerful session telling the African story through the media, through development, through women. And I want to thank you all for coming all the way from the various countries you're in, for all the investments you've put into it. And I want to thank the Diaspora and African Forum for this amazing award and recognition, which I did not And I want to say thank you all so much. So we'll meet again next year. Thank you, UN Office for Partnerships. This couldn't have been possible without you. This is history in the making. And this is not happening during CSW. Let's note that. And it's happening right during the UN General Assembly here. Thank you. God bless you. To take pictures. Yeah, let's be on the stage for the photo.