Africa Development Impact Forum (Event 5, ADIF 2026) Economic and Social Council Date: 11 June 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/ru/asset/k18/k18vj9k6zc?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. --- Moderator · Melaku Desta [0:00]: Judgment Day comes, those of us who have been trying to be industrialists on the African continent will go directly to heaven because we have already paid our prices while we were on earth. So I think that is the kind of— you're talking about knowledge gaps and cartels, monopolies, payment challenges, delays, you name it. So I thought that was the— and despite all that, you conclude by saying, If I can do it, anybody can do it, and it can be done. Gugu Letu, I think the way you started talking about Uber coming into Zimbabwe and then how that started affecting the market and then how you went into freight transport across borders and then COVID and then the need to improvise in the face of COVID And then you conclude by talking about the issue of dispute resolution, conflict resolution, where you are right. You know, if you ask Emmanuel on our panel, he will tell you how they tried to overcome this issue of judgments delivered in one country not recognized in another country, for example, through a treaty mechanism. And then I think we'll come to all those issues in a moment. Ladies and gentlemen, I think the challenges have been laid out in front of us by these 3 inspiring colleagues on the stage: access to finance, market access opportunities, information, anti-competitive practices, and of course the issue of payments and settlements, currency convertibility. All of these things have been raised. And now I'm going to go to my panelists. I have some 4 very qualified eminent colleagues on the stage. I have Mrs. Shipra Chisholm, who comes from the Graça Machel Trust, the Botuloso-Sadic Business Council. We have Mr. Fatana Aragão, who comes from AE Trade, and then my colleague Mr. Andrew Aliyu from the International Labour Organization, and our friend and colleague Mr. Emmanuel Subiro from the European Union office here in Addis. So these colleagues will be able to shed light on some of the challenges that have been raised here. So I will follow the sequence that I have, and panelists, if you try to limit your interventions to a maximum of 5 minutes, we'll be able to give a chance to the audience, to the room here, because as you can see, they are very patient. They are waiting and listening to us at this time of the day. So, Shipra, I'm going to come to you. As someone who comes from the Graça Machel Trust, which does a great job of supporting women to grow enterprises— you were talking about it earlier during your own interventions— expand financial access and become architects of economic change. Can you please tell us what, in your view, are the major finance-related impediments that face youth-led businesses and how digital marketplace and e-commerce platforms can help youth enterprises access regional and continental markets using the FCFT as a platform? You have 5 minutes. Shipra Chisholm [3:34]: Thank you very much. Thanks, I think as I was listening to the youngsters talking, to the youth talking, I was thinking about a couple of years back when we were looking at the African Continental Free Trade and we were saying that this is gender blind. And at that point, we then looked at the Protocol on Youth and Women and Youth, and I've got a lot of answers for and questions for them as well, but I just sat here and I thought, We were thinking about the agreement being gender-blind. Now we're thinking about the implementation and how do we need to implement and what are the challenges that what we created needs to be— what needs to be sorted so that we can do it, we can look at implementation. But going— I'm going to stick to my script so that I can keep the 5 minutes because, as I say, I've got quite a lot to say. But just maybe thinking about an example of one of our entrepreneurs, Diana Kachingwe from Malawi. An entrepreneur that was supported by the Graça Machel Trust, and you'll hear me talking about the Graça Machel Trust, the African Women in Business, as well as the SADC Business Council, because I represent all those organizations. The Graça Machel Trust Women Creating Wealth Jumpstarters Program, through our catalytic financing, mentorship, and digital business training, she was able to strengthen her productivity— capacity, and she was able to access markets and also assist beyond her immediate community through digital platforms. This is where financing begins to translate into trade. Her monthly sales increased 45% in income. Her enterprise moved from local survival business into digitally connected trading activity with wider market reach, showing how financing and digital access together unlock real trade outcomes. Now, she further expanded into cross-border digital services and delivering online training to 83 participants in Mozambique, in Kenya, as well as Zambia, demonstrating that youth enterprises are no longer confined to local markets but increasingly are part of the regional and digital services and value chains. So the key question then that we have and we're looking at is What financing mechanisms can realistically be scaled? I think behind me we're saying that today we are here to look at innovative solutions to enable more youth enterprises like this, and how do we ensure that digital platforms function as true trade infrastructure under the AFCFTA? Now, from my experience at the Graça Machel Trust, through this program that I mentioned, the Women Creating Wealth Program, which has reached over 6,400 women who have created over 30,000 youth jobs and are looking at impacting more than— and have impacted more than 100,000 livelihoods. Youth entrepreneurship must be understood as a pathway for structural transformation, value addition, as well as regional integration, not only job creation. The Jumpstarter model that I've mentioned shows that effective support must combine catalytic grants, it must combine mentorship, It must combine investment readiness support. If one does the one without the other, you're setting up young people for failure. It needs to be a 360. Through this approach, youth entrepreneurs across 6 countries have been supported to move from ideas to scalable enterprises. So these are some of the solutions that we have offered. In Senegal, we had an entrepreneur, Anna, who used the program support support to strengthen her digital strategy and business capacity. Her revenue increased by 11%. She created jobs for young people, and she also trained young people through digital careers. This reinforces for us the key lesson that financing or finance only becomes transformative when it is linked to capacity building or capability, markets, and implementation support. As I say, If we want to make sure that young people succeed, we need to make sure that we provide all this. This is why mechanisms such as non-collateral lending, challenge funds, purchase order financing, crowdfunding, and I think this morning it was mentioned, but blended finance models are essential for scaling youth entrepreneurs. And we have a lot of— in Malawi, for example, we supported financial institutions to increase non-collateral loan ceilings with certain thresholds removing structural barriers that limit youth participation in production. So the AFCFTA requires us to treat digital platforms not as e-commerce tools, but as regional trade transformation. These platforms enable markets to access suppliers, to connect suppliers, to look at logistics and coordination, and also to look at digital payments. So in closing, the challenge is not only to create youth-owned enterprises, but to ensure that they move from survival entrepreneurship to competitive, to value-creating, to enterprise embedded in the regional value chains, which aligns our focus today, looking at implementation, scaling what works, and accountability for the results. Then the success will be measured not only by policy commitments, which I think is what has been discussed this morning, but by enterprises that are scaling, that are looking at creating jobs, that are accessing markets, and that are making sure that livelihoods are transformed. So AFCFTA provides us with a platform. The young people are providing us with innovation. Let's look at how to deal with that. Moderator · Melaku Desta [9:16]: Thank you very much, Shepila. I think clearly the trust You know, even from that one project, talking about creating 6,000+ jobs, I think it's something that must be, you know, recognized, applauded, and all. So now I'm going to go to Mr. Fatana Aragao from AITREAD. Fatana, as someone who comes from AITREAD, which is, I think, I'm sure you will say something about that, I find these are one of the pioneering enterprises in the digital trade field in particular. So, and earlier when Tasha was talking about how excited she was when the idea of mobile money came, I was thinking about the question I was preparing to ask you. So, can you tell us, please, what governments can do to accelerate the development of digital trade corridors smart corridors, smart borders, and what would be your advice for SMEs to translate their online presence into cross-border trade, physical deliveries, and then payments? Over to you, Fattah. You have 5 minutes. A-Trade · Fatana Aragão [10:31]: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. From A-Trade's perspective, we believe that the real challenge not whether African entrepreneurs have entrepreneurial potential or not. We believe they clearly do have the entrepreneurial potential. The real challenge is that many youth-led enterprises are not fully utilizing the ecosystem to access the market. So here comes the major challenges that face these SMEs. Most of the challenges include standards and certification issues, market information issue, and secure payment issue, and of course, as mentioned, logistics and financing issue. And there is also trust issue between buyers and sellers, and there is also a gap in skill among the entrepreneurs or SMEs. As a result, even there are opportunities across the FCFTA, SMEs are not able to convert those opportunities and actual transactions are not being made. The key issue here is that market access must be viewed as a complete journey, not just a single intervention. So as a solution, we recommend 3 actions. One is the youth or SMEs must be trade-ready before they are asked to export. So before we ask young entrepreneurs to export, we must help them improve product quality, packaging, standard compliance, and business documentation processes, pricing, and also digital readiness. So export success begins before products reach a border. So we believe the first task should be educating the entrepreneurs. So the second issue is connecting young entrepreneurs to the real buyers. Through platforms like Sowkoko Africa, which is an e-commerce platform under A-Trade Group, businesses can gain visibility beyond their local communities and access regional markets. So through Sowkoko, market visibility will be created. However, visibility alone is not enough, so there is also a need to complete transactions. Which is a critical action. So even if there is a trade opportunity, only it becomes real when a buyer can trust the seller, payments can be made securely, and goods can be delivered efficiently when both parties can operate within a predictable framework. So this needs to operate an integrated ecosystem, which is essential for the SMEs to be active in the ecosystem. So under the African Continental Free Trade Area, digital marketplaces and e-commerce platforms can only play a transformative role by reducing distance and connecting businesses across borders. However, effective digital platforms must do more than simply display products online. So they must provide, like mentioned earlier, trust must be assured between traders, and there should be secure payment infrastructure, logistics support, and training and capacity building. And lastly, access to finance is critical for the success of the overall ecosystem. So usually there is a common misconception online presence alone or automatically leads to trade, but the reality is that most SMEs may have social media pages or storefronts, but yet still they struggle to conduct cross-border business. So the key bottlenecks here remain the same. There is trust issue and payment issue, logistics, and access to finance and compliance issues remain the key bottlenecks. So governments here should intervene by integrating the general ecosystem or by developing digital trade corridors and smart borders through digitizing the entire ecosystem. Or the entire trade journey from business registration and product verification, electronic certificates and compliance documentation, digital payments and financial infrastructures, logistics tracking and border management, and buyer-seller verification and trust frameworks are necessary that the government should intervene. As ATA Trade Group, We are building exactly this type of ecosystem. We have Swakopmund Africa, which is a market which creates market access and continental visibility for the SMEs. We also have A-Trust, which is a secure transaction payment system that supports buyer-seller transaction and builds trust. There is A-Logistics for the fulfillment and delivery coordination. And we have also an e-learning platform for the capacity building and digital trade training for the SMEs. And for the finance facilitation, we also have an investment alliance that provides access to finance for the SMEs. Moderator · Melaku Desta [16:51]: I'm having to ask you to finish, Fadlallah, please. A-Trade · Fatana Aragão [16:55]: And lastly, the most transformative intervention for youth enterprises is the creation of a complete support pathway. Training alone is not enough, and access to market is not enough, and marketplace alone is not enough. So young entrepreneurs need to— need all of the following connected systems as an ecosystem, like business formalization and product readiness, digital visibility, Market access and logistics and access to finance and secure payments are necessary to be connected. So when these elements are connected, youth enterprises can move from survival entrepreneurship to competitive participants in the regional and value chains. So the concrete commitment regarding the concrete commitment for e-trade. For the coming 1.5 years, we will work on onboarding SMEs to SocoCo Africa. Thousands of SMEs will be onboarded on that, and for this purpose, we will deploy digital trade advisors across the countries that we operate, and we will enable secure transaction support and strengthen logistics access. Finally, we will work with financial institutions institutions to improve access to finance. Thank you very much. Moderator · Melaku Desta [18:24]: Thank you very much, Fattah. I know you have a lot to tell us about this in this area. I still remember meeting your colleague from A-Trade when we were still at the drafting stage of the FCFTA agreement back 10 years ago, and I'm happy to see that you are still going strong and you are helping us come up with innovative solutions. Now I'm going to come to you, Andrew, Andrew Ali, from the ILO. You come from the ILO, an institution which is critical to our discourse here, and of course I would like to thank you for joining us. My question to you centers around access to established businesses. Very often when we talk about youth-led businesses, we talk about SMEs, And we, of course, we love to support SMEs, but at some point, at least some of the SMEs, hopefully we also want to see them grow into large businesses, right? That's what success is. Now, what can be done to strengthen linkages with big businesses, for example, Andrew? What is the role of initiatives such as supplier development programmes? and the like in the effort to connect youth-led enterprises with large enterprises, and then where do you see those opportunities for networks, value chains, linkages, etc.? Over to you, Andrew, you have 5 minutes. ILO · Andrew Aliyu [19:54]: Thank you very much, Malachy, and thanks to the team for this opportunity, and good afternoon, everyone. You mentioned about supplier development programmes. It's interesting, this is the first time it's been mentioned throughout this conversation, so I will take probably a few seconds to talk about it as the approach that has been used. Supplier development programs generally are initiatives that help small and medium-scale enterprises to become more competitive suppliers to large businesses, to multilaterals, to multinationals, and to government agencies and export markets. Supply development programs link the small actors to the big big boys, if you like. The overall objective normally is to strengthen the capabilities of local suppliers so that they can meet the requirements of the big players, and these requirements mostly are around product quality, standards. Reliability, production capacity, because most of the small businesses don't have production capacity, adequate capacity, but importantly also regulations, because regulations have been— is one culprit for putting small businesses out of of business. But when you talk about regulations, since you say I'm from the ILO, we also talk about occupational safety, health, and environmental compliance. Small businesses also struggle with technological innovation, so supplier development programs help to support them. With that. Yeah, so these are supplier development programs generally, but why are they relevant to youth in particular? Of course, most of the speakers here have spoken quite eloquently around the barriers youth-led enterprises face. So, for example, lack of market access. So what supplier development programs do is to link or introduce small businesses. So we have good examples. So, for example, the Kenya Linkages Program, they also help to address the issue of credibility that young enterprises lack, skills gap, and small scale, and also what's the issues around information asymmetry. Small businesses normally lack this, and supplier development programs try to fill that gap and connect them. So, for example, a typical supplier business— supplier development program in agro-processing will, for example, identify a promising a youth-led enterprise, help them to meet issues like food safety, and then connect them to some working capital and some supermarket chain. So this is how they operate. And then now, how can we strengthen them? In short, It's really a twofold or two-pronged intervention. One, we seek to address their capability constraints on one hand, but on the other hand, we also help them meet the requirements of the larger farms and the regional value chain. Effective approaches have used a combination which one of the colleagues mentioned. Skills, enterprise upgrading, market access facilitation, and incentives for— and incentivizing lead firms. So, I mean, they— strengthening them, I mentioned the issue about capability. It still remains— I mean, we joke about the continuous capacity building, but it still remains a significant dimension of how these youth enterprises or youth-led enterprises can be— of course, the issues around capacity should really become package bundle that looks at, as I said, skills, finance, standards, and operating markets. Lessons from ILO interventions around Africa suggest that youth enterprises succeed when they go beyond entrepreneurship training, but also really trying to understand how the market operates or functions. That leads me to a second point, which is quite important. Moderator · Melaku Desta [25:51]: If you can finalize in 1 minute, please. ILO · Andrew Aliyu [25:55]: That training alone is not sufficient, because most of our interventions are supplier-driven. It's important that we make a supplier-driven Yes, supplier development is really demand-led, and ensure that the supplier development programmes are actually embedded in market systems. Most often, we try to capacitate them in the hope that they will find their way into markets and value chains. Zimbabwe, Kenya point strongly to this evidence. And we've also been doing quite a lot in refugee host communities in Kenya, and we are doing something here in Ethiopia, an approach we call AIMS. AIMS is an approach to inclusive market systems. It has 2 dimensions. One is the pull dimension, which will help to develop markets and value chains to create opportunities. Then the push dimension is actually to work with these groups so that they— with the right skills and capabilities so they can access those opportunities. So the AIMS approach is actually being used in Currently over 25 countries on the continent. Then just one last point, Malako, issues around being intentional. Really, if you want to, the issues around actually targeting youth-led, but also creating incentives for the larger farms to deal with the youth. There are strong examples in South Africa, for example, Zambia and Zimbabwe on the points that we are working on. Thanks and over. Moderator · Melaku Desta [28:07]: Thank you very much, Andrew. Again, you know, I would have loved to give you more time so we could hear the full, you know, presentation, but we have to cut you short, unfortunately, because of the time. Now, I'm going to go to Mr. Subirao Emmanuel. As someone who comes from one of the major partners and supporters of Africa's development endeavors, the European Union, I would like to ask you, Emmanuel, to please speak to us about the major finance-related impediments for the youth enterprise. We know finance is a big issue even for the established businesses, let alone for the small players. for the young players who are just starting. And what, you know, what can be done about this? Perhaps there might also be lessons that we can learn from the European experience in this area. So if you take 5 minutes, if you take— if you limit yourself to 5 minutes, Emmanuel, you will also allow me to give a chance for 1 or 2 persons in the audience to ask questions. You have 5 minutes. EU · Emmanuel Subiro [29:19]: Thank you. Speaker 13 [29:19]: Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [29:21]: Okay, merci bien. EU · Emmanuel Subiro [29:22]: I'm going to give the vote to the Francophones now. So what we have seen in the past years is the decrease of ODAs and also less fund coming from donors. And one thing that we would like to focus on is the mixed blended financing because blended financing is considered as a leverage these days and also reduce risks for the private sector in terms of investors. and so on. And the European Union— I'm going to talk what we do within the European Union, and we also have similar mechanisms in mainland Europe, and we try to adapt them for partner countries. And the major initiative of the European Union is called the Global Gateway. I believe you have heard about it, and it rolls between 2021 until 2026, and we have billions of euros. And half of that budget, which is $150 billion, is for the African continent. And I believe if 80% of the objectives is attained, then we will go beyond this $150 billion. So, we focus on infrastructures, but not only on I would like to mention one initiative which is important in terms of supporting small and medium enterprises. So, it has a name in English. It's called Investing in Youth Businesses in Africa. This fund is considered as a guarantee fund, around €700 million. So, this means It is money available to reduce risks for local banks to lend money for SMEs. We also talk about $300 million fund for programs and projects. We have 8 to 10 regional projects around 20 African countries. Here, we try to— try to provide the seed money and everything related to support. We have understood that financing only is not enough, and we also want to support those SMEs. So, this project is supported by the European Union and 13 EU member states, as well as public and private banks. What we have seen is that access to financing is a serious issue, but we also have several solutions to address it. Often, it's about scale. There was a study of the World Bank a few years back saying that to support a company, financial partners would have to put $10,000 to support that company. Now, if we need to support thousands and millions of companies in the continent, we would be short of financial resources. I remember a project where we were able to support 5,000 young entrepreneurs. We were very happy. But when it comes to the number of young entrepreneurs in the market, it was just extremely small. So, the question is, how can we scale up this? And thanks to blended financing, we were able to raise a lot of financial resources. And it's not only for— to provide guarantees or collaterals for big commercial banks, but it's also used to support or create local funds that would directly support SMEs, and particularly youth and women, in their entrepreneurial endeavor. So we would like to support those funds on capital risk, but we also work with accelerators, incubators. One specific point I would like to raise here in terms of innovation is supporting the diaspora. African diaspora, those in Europe specifically, and migrants, mainly those returnees in their respective countries. Because we have— on this specific point on supporting the diaspora, we have noted that several people of the diaspora want to invest in the African continent and they do not know how to do it financially. So when they put money, there are projects where we, we can have top-ups to support their projects. And I have a lot of examples to share, but let me stop here. Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [35:10]: Thank you very much, Emmanuel. You also did it in good time. I hope the entrepreneurs sitting around me will be asking for your card before you leave. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not doing justice to this panel because I don't have time even to highlight some of the key points that have come out, but let me allow 2 questions, 1 minute each, 2 questions. I see a lady's hand over there and another lady over there, 2 of them, that's it. One here, one there, 2 ladies and that's it. Yes, please. Participant [35:44]: Thank you very much. This was a session that was I was looking forward to it. So we speak a lot about moving goods under this FCFTA, but goods don't move on their own, right? Truck drivers, transport workers, they are facing real barriers with visas and cross-border mobility. So let me be sharp and ask this question to ILO. Speaker 18 [36:10]: Yeah. Participant [36:12]: What concrete actions are being taken to address labor mobilities, and what are the biggest gaps still holding this back? We know that it's important, but what's holding it back? Maybe the other question is for the businesses. We hear that Pan-African Payment and Settlement System by AfriExim and FCFTA has been operational, but many businesses here still face major bottlenecks. That's what each of them mentioned. So I'm curious, have any of you used that system to transfer payment? What was your experience? That would be nice to hear. Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [36:52]: Very good questions. Thank you very much, and to the point. Yes, please. Follow the same model. 1 minute, direct questions, please. South Africa's Youth Forum Ambassador to the AU and Ethiopia · Efrat Amatius [37:02]: Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Efrat Amatius. I'm South Africa's Youth Forum Ambassador to the AU and Ethiopia. My question is to the entrepreneurs. As entrepreneurs who successfully broke into regional markets, what was the biggest hurdle you faced regarding capital when trying to scale across borders, and what needs to change practically so that young women can also transition from survival entrepreneurship into competitive regional value chains? Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [37:56]: Nevertheless, you can take 1 minute to address that, Andrew, and then I will go to the colleagues to look at all the 3 to respond to these questions with 1 minute, just 1 minute max, please. Thank you. ILO · Andrew Aliyu [38:10]: Yes, thank you very much. The ILO, of course, is doing quite a lot. We have the Continental Programme, the the Joint Labour and Migration for Africa program. Through that continental framework, we have the AU that works closely with the AU migration policy framework. There's also the continental strategies. Related to skills as well, skills mobility. We're also working on the portability of social security. At the RECS level, there's been a lot more advances, including the SACDEC protocol, We are also supporting work with the African Union, with GCC countries, so there are quite a lot to talk about. Moderator · Melaku Desta [39:29]: Thank you very much, Andrew. Now, let me ask each of the entrepreneurs to take 1 minute, please. There are 2 questions to all of you. Speaker 25 [39:39]: Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [39:40]: That I would like to touch on. We have PAPSS. We have been celebrating its launch. Have any of you used it? Because we still talk about payment and settlement systems as a challenge. What's your experience? And the second one was, what was the biggest hurdle that you faced? On that, I think you have already told us, but maybe if you want to take half of your, you know, your 1-minute allocation, you can do that. Samal, please. I'll start from you and I'll go this way. Entrepreneur · Samal [40:09]: Thank you. For payment systems, we haven't been using that. The way we've been selling is direct wire transfers. From Rwanda, we've been able to handle refunds. That allows us to receive the payments, but if a client doesn't want the product, we can be able to do the refunds. But from Ethiopia, unfortunately, we haven't been able to do any kind of refunds. So that's why we've been trying to partner with other payment systems within Rwanda and Kenya to do these payments. But one thing I'm very happy about is the mobile banking system through Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya has allowed us to be able to sell to the Eastern African community. And the second question on hurdles, I think the hurdles are going to be continuing. It's a new system. system. Regional sales will always have those hurdles. One of the biggest things we've been able to understand is that to be able to move large goods, we've been able to move around 300 kg easily, but when we reached 2,000 kg, that was very hard for us. Speaker 28 [41:15]: Size. Entrepreneur · Samal [41:15]: Yes, size, exactly. The next is, how do young women or young entrepreneurs break into regional market? I think you just have to go and start. There's nobody stopping us. There's nobody holding us back. Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [41:28]: Thank you very much. So I come to you, Gugulethu, please. Entrepreneur · Gugulethu [41:33]: Thanks. Moderator · Melaku Desta [41:33]: One minute. Entrepreneur · Gugulethu [41:34]: Thanks. So the question concerning PEPFAR, I think it's the same one. We're in Southern Africa. It's not operational for us. And then the question concerning access to finance for young women. So speaking with our context, we've been heavily reliant on individual investors. We have not been able to raise any form of financing from financial institutions, so we've had to really look inwards. In essence, a big part of our investor network for us is the— is the Zimbabwean diaspora community. So it's people who believe in you who are most likely able to give you money. In terms of what we see moving forward, in terms of access to formal financing, I'm a big proponent, or rather my big audacious goal right now is creating a behavioral data credit bureau. I think we're leaving quite a lot of money on the table for young women within the informal spaces or within the shadow network by not looking at that to say when you are being able to give money, something as small as $1 or $10, how exactly do you behave with that? So, I think if we move on to that sector, we'll be able to include more people. Speaker 34 [42:43]: Thank you. Thank you. Moderator · Melaku Desta [42:44]: Thank you, Gugulethu. Tasha, again, 1 minute max, max, max, max. Entrepreneur · Tasha [42:49]: Thank you very much. For the payment system, like my friend said, we're in Southern Africa and it's not operational. We rely on mobile money and bank system. Then the question that she asked, how young women can be able to attract financing, more especially in cross-border trade, honestly speaking, for me, in cross-border water trade, before you start, I don't advise for you to seek financing because you don't know the waters you're going to dive in. You might crash or you might make it. So it's better you get a small capital like I did, and I've scaled. I started with 200 bags, but now I can do 60 tons in a month. So I advise you start small, and as you test the waters, Moderator · Melaku Desta [43:38]: Thank you very much, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I just wish I would allow these panelists to continue going for another couple of hours. I cannot. Now, I'm going to invite my colleague, the director of our sub-regional office, whose team did such an excellent job in organizing this panel, Eunice Kamwendo, to please come in, take one minute, and say a few words. Eunice, please. ECA · Director, Sub-Regional Office · Eunice Kamwendo [44:13]: Thank you so much, Malaku. I really enjoyed the session, just listening to all of them, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to say a few words. This is where I'm going to start from. I think it was powerful to start with the entrepreneurs because I think that's where we're getting the practical lived experiences where all of us have to coalesce to come in and help unblock some of the challenges that we have. But if you can see also, and I know I'm yet to meet a few of the entrepreneurs, although I've engaged with them before, but all of them, I think all the 3 spoke around issues They started for whether it's logistics, financing, or indeed value-added products in the leather one. They're all there to solve problems. And I think that should be instructive to a lot of our young people to say if you want to go into a business or entrepreneurship, it really is about solving a problem, whatever problem that is, as a starting point. And I think another lesson, a lesson learned from all the three of them, which I also found very useful. was how they've been successful in falling forward. Again, all of them have spoken about issues of how, you know, they struggled, failed, started again, and so on. And I think what that tells all of us is the tenacity to keep going, but also picking up the lessons that you face along the way to be able to be successful. in a business. And then I think the ending in terms of all of them again just presenting a lot of the challenges which all of us have spoken about is useful. A lot of the challenges, I think they've been able to work around them and solve them. But I think this is a lesson again to us as development partners to see where we do come alongside entrepreneurs to support. It was therefore gratifying to hear whether it was from Gracia Machel Trust, AE Trade, ILO, EU, and the rest of the other panelists that came with practical solutions in this regard. I think that is where we should indeed, including ourselves as the UN and others, we should come in. I think finally, and this is more— Moderator · Melaku Desta [46:46]: If you can finish it, please, Eunice. ECA · Director, Sub-Regional Office · Eunice Kamwendo [46:48]: Thank you. I am. I am. UN colleagues, including ECA. I think it's to really now look at a high level, at a policy level, on all of these issues, whether it's around dispute resolution, security issues around borders that have been spoken to. PAPS. I mean, we all are celebrating around PAPS, but clearly there are issues there. And I think that sits into some of the areas that we need to work on. And finally, just again to thank My team, of course, that made my team and your team and across board in terms of the headquarter colleagues that made this happen. And for this is not the end. I think a start and hoping that we are going to be able to continue the conversation. But thank you, all of you, for making yourselves available for this exciting session. Over back to you, Milaka. Moderator · Melaku Desta [47:40]: Thank you very much, Eunice. And I think tenacity is the word that I want to keep when I think about these 3 young ladies here. And now, a final one, Mr. Miscek Gondo, 1-minute vote of thanks, please. SAYouF · Miscek Gondo [47:57]: Thank you very much, Melaku, for driving this session, and indeed, as alluded to by the youth development model, that young people are anchors for innovation, young people are stakeholders, and leaders for transformation. We have witnessed it in this session where young people have proffered solutions, practical solutions that will drive on the basis of Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, and also we have heard from the institutions that are supporting the work of young people. Allow me to thank everyone, including our moderator, for today's session. As alluded to by the former speaker just now, we are going to continue is the Southern Africa Youth Forum, known also as SADC Youth Forum. We are proud to support young people in terms of driving this. I would like to acknowledge the co-organizers of this session, the International Labour Organization, ILO, the Southern Africa Youth Forum, SAYouF, and ECA. Thank you very much. Moderator · Melaku Desta [49:02]: Thank you very much. I think I don't have anything time, any additional time, any more time to say anything more, but please join me one more time in thanking this amazing panel. And let me also thank our master of ceremony for allowing me this additional 3 minutes. Thank you very much. Master of Ceremonies [49:21]: Thank you very much, Director Desta, and our esteemed panelists. Please join me in giving them another round of applause for their very engaging We also want to thank all moderators and panelists as we actually had to cut your time by 10 minutes and you have done well not to revert to the original time. Some were just 5 minutes short, but at least you gave us some time. Thank you. Distinguished participants, Thank you very much for staying with us. While we may not have achieved Japanese-style precision in our timing, We have done quite well, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and engagement. We now come to our final session before we proceed to the cocktail and knowledge fair. I was told to try to engage you more by saying that the cocktail will be taking place on a terrace with a beautiful view of Addis Ababa, so please, you do not want to miss that. Now, the final session is an impact talk which will be delivered by Ms. Marlene Emily-Boss, Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa. This last panel is very enthusiastic. The session will be chaired by Ms. Kauta Moudar, Head of Partnerships and Resources at the Pan-African Youth Union. Ms. Moudar, the floor is yours. Thank you, The session will run for 25 minutes. Kindly awaiting Miss Muda and Miss Marlene to please mount the platform. All right, we have 25 minutes, please. PYU · Head of Partnerships and Resources · Kautar Moudar [51:18]: Thank you. Master of Ceremonies [51:19]: Thank you. PYU · Head of Partnerships and Resources · Kautar Moudar [52:04]: No, it's on. Okay. So, Excellencies, dear distinguished guests, Good afternoon or good evening. My name is Kautar Moudar, so I'm the Head of Partnerships and Resources at the Pan-African Youth Union, which is a member-led, state-led organization or union, and we are the largest convening power mobilizing youth since 1962 in governance, institutionalized participation, capacity building, leadership development, and multi-stakeholder partnerships. So today's session is the last session, but it's going to be brief and fruitful, inshallah. So it's going to be about the impact talk, so where we're going to explain the Pact for the Future to young people and to all our stakeholders and partners. For that, let me call my dear colleague and sister, Ms. Marlene, Emily Bass, who is here joining me, like, in the stage, then definitely she will give us, like, more insights about the Pact for the Future. So let me just give you a very brief idea about it before, like, getting into, like, deep insights and information. So the Pact for the Future is a global agreement adopted by countries at the Summit of the Future back or in 2024. And in simple terms, it's a roadmap for creating a world that is more peaceful, fair, inclusive, and definitely sustainable. So this talk will be led by Ms. Marlene, which will walk us through like the Pact for the Future to help deepen our understanding, and her presentation will guide us from understanding the Pact's key commitments towards identifying practical actions and pathways for implementation. So, Ms. Marlene, the floor is yours. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [54:04]: Thank you so much, Kautar, and hello everyone. Good afternoon. I hope you can hear me well. Excellencies and colleagues and friends, before I start my moment, I would like to do a small exercise with you. Can I ask the colleagues to start the presentation? Speaker 49 [54:27]: Yes. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [54:28]: So, I would like you to read this paragraph. Actually, actually, let me help you with this one. We commit to promoting coherent, coordinated, inclusive, and integrated approaches that facilitate the effective implementation of nationally determined priorities strengthen partnerships, enhanced institutional capacities, and whole-of-government and whole-of-society frameworks while fostering policy coherence, promoting sustainable and resilient— um, please be honest, how many of you zoned out? Participant [55:12]: Yes. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [55:13]: Um, and I don't blame you. I don't blame you at all. I have been working for the United Nations for a few years now, and I have to read these types of paragraphs, these types of texts twice myself. But here is the more important question: what does that text actually mean? What does it mean to a young graduate in Addis Ababa? What does it mean to a woman starting a business in Dar es Salaam? What does it mean to a farmer in Senegal? What does it mean to a student in Benin? Most people wouldn't know, not because they're not smart, not because they don't care, but because we have been very good at writing for conferences, we've been very good at writing for reports, we've been very good at writing for each other, and much less good at writing for the people that those conferences and those reports are actually about. And I want to be clear about something from the start, because this is not a small problem. Because when people cannot access the language of a decision about their lives, they cannot participate in it, they cannot challenge it, they cannot own it, and they certainly cannot act on it. And language is not just a communications issue. It is an inclusion issue, and that is where this story starts. So in September 2024, Kater already talked about it, world leaders gathered at HQ in New York, UN HQ, for what was called the Summit of the Future. And I'm pretty sure most of you in this room have already heard about this, this summit. The premise was simple. The world is facing many challenges that no country can solve alone. Climate change, debt, conflict, the rise of artificial intelligence, jobs that don't exist yet for a generation entering the workforce, and also a growing crisis of trust in institutions and in each other. So leaders came together and negotiated a new agreement, and it was called the Pact for the Future, a roadmap of sorts, a promise to future generations, a commitment to do better. And the final document was 56 pages long, thousands of words, dozens of commitments, very important commitments about education, about jobs, about the planet, about peace. And when we first looked at it at the UN Development Coordination Office, we found ourselves wondering, how many young people are actually going to read this? Not because they don't care about the future, but because we had once again written a document meant for young people about their future in a language that most young people would never really engage with. And before I'm going to tell you what we did about it, I want to pause on that for a moment, because I do think it matters more than we usually acknowledge, and especially in Africa. By 2050, more than 1 in 4 people on Earth will be African, which means that when we talk about Africa's young people, we're not talking about a niche demographic. We are actually talking about one of the most influential, one of the most consequential generations in human history. And yet we write about their future in a language they cannot easily engage with, and we make decisions about their lives in rooms that they are often not in. The generation we most need to close that implementation gap that we are talking about at this conference, at this forum, is the same generation that we consistently exclude, amongst others, through the language that we use. So this is not just an inclusion problem, as I mentioned before, it's also an implementation problem, because the people we need most to turn ideas into impact are often the very people that we treat as not quite ready. And perhaps that's why we still describe them using a curious phrase: youth potential. A Gen Z colleague I used to work with a while ago, she has said something to me that has stayed with me ever since. We were in a meeting talking about youth engagement, and suddenly she said, I don't really like this expression youth potential. And I asked her why, and she said, we've been talking about youth potential for decades. If we keep calling it potential, will never recognize what young people are capable of today. And she was right. Potential, it's a strange word, it's a slippery word because it sounds like a compliment, but what it actually means is not quite ready, not quite yet, not quite yet contributing, not quite yet leading, not quite yet ready. And it lets us off the hook. Because as long as young people have potential, we can continue to plan for their lives without really including them in it or really involving them in it. But look across Africa today. Young people are already building businesses, they're already creating jobs, they're already finding solutions to many of the challenges many governments and institutions and experts haven't come up with yet. And I'm sorry, the videos don't seem to work because of the Wi-Fi. So, yeah, maybe the challenge for us is not to unlock youth potential, but maybe it is recognizing youth contribution and making young people active players in closing that implementation gap, which brings me back to the Pact for the Future and to the question that we kept asking ourselves. So, if this document, the Pact for the Future, is about their future, Why are we writing in a language that they cannot really engage with? And that is when my boss made a comment that I still really like. He said we should translate the Pact for the Future. We should translate the Pact for the Future from English to English. Not English to French, not English to Arabic, not English to Swahili? No, English to English. Take the same ideas, keep the same meaning, but make them relatable, make them understandable, and make them human. So we created what became the Gen Z Pact for the Future. We brought in a young woman from Morocco, Lina. She's a Gen Z, and she understood instinctively what her generation thinks, what they care about, and most importantly, maybe, how they communicate. And she did something that none of us really could have done ourselves in our office. She wrote for her friends and not for us. So the final— the first draft, we tested it, we shared it with young people across Africa, and we asked them for honest feedback. What landed, what felt distant, and what still needs to change in this first draft? And we went back and we reworked that first draft based on what they told us, and then we asked a very talented graphic designer, an Ethiopian graphic designer, Henok, to also make it look the part. And when it came together, it looked like this. So, I'm going to give you a few examples. I'm not sure if the videos will work, but let's try. On peace and security, important topic in the Pact for the Future. So, the Pact language talks about multilateral frameworks, conflict prevention, institutional reform, but we translated it into peace starts with what you share online. Because for many young people, peace is not only negotiated in conference halls. It is shaped every day through social media and increasingly through AI. A young person who has watched a piece of misinformation or disinformation spread across their social media who has seen how quickly a false story travels, how few people check the source of what they share online, and how difficult it is to— once a false story is out— to put it back in the box, that person will read this line, and I think they will feel something click. And this is a short animation that we made. Speaker 53 [1:04:10]: Active players. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [1:04:12]: Or take youth employment. So the Pact for the Future, again, it contains very careful and precise language about structural barriers facing young people that are entering the workforce. So the Pact The original pact sentence is on the left. Perfectly good policy language, accurate, it's technically correct, but now compare it to this. The Gen Z Pact says, degrees ready, doors closed. Fix the system, not the youth. Africa needs 15 million jobs every year just to keep up with the entering— with the youth entering the workforce each year. So that line, degrees ready, doors closed, is a description of what happens when that gap is not closed for them. Or take youth participation. Policy language often talks about meaningful youth engagement. Again, an excerpt of the original pact, and then on the right you'll find the Gen Z version. It says, not here for the group photo, here to change policy. And of course, this challenges tokenism that we see a lot still. And I have another animation on youth engagement. I think Wi-Fi is letting us down. Let me continue. Ah, there we go. And then there was this one, and this is the final one. There's many more, but I will stop after this one. So we transformed the text, or part of the text on governance, into, welcome to the 21st century. The global system was built a long time ago. Africa was not in the room. And I will let that one speak for itself. So, We translated the 56-page document into 5 flyers and 21 animations in both English and French. We created social media cards, key messages, action guides, ideas for local campaigns, practical ways for young people to engage with all these topics that are very important and that are in the Pact for the Future. But now I want to be honest about something, because when we started, I thought we were solving a communications problem. Make a complicated document easier to read. Job done. But the longer I sat with it and the more I also talked to young people across the continent, the more I realized that accessible language is not the end of the story. It is the beginning. And I see it as a chain that goes from the right language to understanding, to ownership, to action, and eventually to impact. So when the language of a document is so technical and jargony, full of jargon, that it excludes people, the first link in that chain breaks. And when that link breaks, often nothing really moves. Let me explain what I mean. Understanding, for example, fails when people read something and they think, ah, I suppose that is important, but they cannot connect it to their own life. They have processed the words, but the meaning has not landed, and so it fades. Ownership fails when people understand an idea, but they still feel it belongs to someone else, to experts, to the UN, to governments, to institutions. So they might agree with it, they might even share it, but they do not feel responsible for it. And without that sense of responsibility, nothing also really moves. And finally, action fails when people feel ownership but have no pathway. They care, they want to do something, but the gap between caring and doing feels too large, and so they don't. And that is why language often matters more than we tend to admit. Not because getting the words right is the final goal, but because getting the words right is often what helps make everything else possible. If a young person cannot understand what was decided in their name, that chain that I just described for them never even starts. And when I look at the Gen Z Pact, I kind of see all of those things coming together. The flyers and the animations, the key messages, they did not just simplify the language, but they connected global commitments to the lived experiences of everyday life of young people. For example, take peace starts with what you share online. The moment a young person reads that line, they do not just understand the idea, but they feel it is theirs, that peace is not something negotiated somewhere else by someone else, but that it's something that they participate in every single day. And that connection between global commitments and a daily reality is what turns understanding into ownership, not the— Speaker 55 [1:09:11]: Thank you. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [1:09:12]: I suppose this is important, but this is mine, this is mine to act on. And then we added the action guide because we realized that, as I just mentioned, ownership alone is not enough. So the action guide gave young people actually— excuse me— specific things that they could actually do. So the guide walks them through practical steps from organizing challenges online, to developing a concrete ask or a campaign, to working with others in your community. And enough of those actions, big or small, in enough communities is how commitments on paper eventually become change on the ground. Now, I think most people in this room have spent their careers trying to make things move. And I also suspect that most of you have experienced the frustration of watching something good, a piece of research, a program that worked well, not travel as far as it should have. And there's many reasons for that: politics, resources, timing, power. So I'm not going to stand here and pretend that better language fixes all of it, but I do think that we consistently underestimate how much that first link Matters. Speaker 57 [1:10:36]: There we go. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [1:10:37]: The link from language to understanding. And at this forum, more than almost any forum I've participated in or I know, we're asking exactly the right question. Not what do we know, but how do we make it move? So let's go back to where we started. This paragraph, this wall of text. My boss said, let's translate it from English to English, and we did. But this paragraph is not unique, because most of us, or many of us, produce a version of it every week or every month. And I know this one is quite exaggerated. It can be a report, a strategy, a commitment, written carefully, with all the good intentions, in a language that most of the people it is meant for will never truly really engage with. And when my Gen Z colleague told me that potential just means not yet, she was also talking about this paragraph and about all paragraphs like it. Every time we write like this, we are without meaning to saying not yet to the young people reading it. Not yet ready to understand, not yet ready to contribute. And the Gen Z Pact was a small attempt to say something different, to say, yes, you are ready. Here's what was decided, here's why it matters to you, and here is what you can actually do about it. And perhaps the same challenge exists in all of our work, because every work field, I suspect, has its own version of that 56-page policy document. So before I close, the invitation to everyone in this room is to ask the same question that we asked ourselves, and the question we should ask ourselves much more often: what in your work still needs translation? Not just in the words we use, but ultimately in who we involve, who we design for, and who we invite to the room. What have you still left untranslated? Thank you very much. Thank you. PYU · Head of Partnerships and Resources · Kautar Moudar [1:12:46]: Thank you, Marlene, for these valuable insights and information. So as per the Pact for the Future, so young people, they should have a voice. They are not regular leaders of tomorrow or of today, but they are literally partners. So they need definitely to take part of the decision-making from where governments committed to increasing youth participation in public life and policymaking. Another important point, which is that youth deserve better opportunities. The Pact encourages investment in education, skills development, entrepreneurship, which we really, like, had, like, many conversations and discussions today about the entrepreneurship, startups, and definitely innovation and decent jobs for young people, which we really encourage our youth to go for the part-time jobs, summer, which is not a common culture in Africa, in our continent, but definitely nowadays, more young people, they are more aware about this importance of acquiring more experience and expertise and having different internships. Definitely, for the climate action, digital and technologies are really important, and they really need to be more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Unfortunately, in some of the regions in our continent, They don't have access to different technologies or to AI, but the government, they are working on that. Definitely, from where they have even named the different ministers, the ICT, the AI and technology, which are helping in that. The last point, which is the most important, which is the peace and security. This is the key element for every single development of our countries and our continent. So my last 2 key messages after, like, this fruitful session is that nothing about young people should be decided without young people. The Pact of the Future is an opportunity for the youth to speak up, participate, engage, and help shape the future they want to see. We really must move from engaging youth to trusting youth, resourcing youth, and co-leading with youth, because Africa's future is not ahead of us. It is already in action and is already being shaped and delivered by young people today. And thank you so much. UN DCO · Regional Communications and Advocacy Officer for Africa · Marlene Emily-Boss [1:15:13]: Thank you. Master of Ceremonies [1:15:23]: Thank you so much, Marlene and Miss Muda, for a wonderful session. Please give them one more time a round of applause. Okay, mesdames et messieurs, nos délibérations d'aujourd'hui sont. Speaker 62 [1:15:36]: Ladies and gentlemen, we have come to the end of our deliberations for today. We will resume tomorrow at eight o'clock, and we. We'll be pleased to have you resume at 9:00. The program is available on the website of the ADIF. You can consult it there. We invite you to visit the Knowledge Forum which will be animated or facilitated once again by the Deputy Executive Director Executive Secretary of the UNECA, Maketa. Please wave to the crowd so that everyone will know you. Following the knowledge fair, we will move to the cocktail that we'll hold in the banquet hall. People will be at your disposal. They will be able to guide you. We wish you a pleasant evening. Master of Ceremonies [1:16:36]: End of today's deliberations. We will reconvene at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. We look forward to welcoming you back. The program remains available on the ADF website for your reference. At this juncture, we invite you to proceed through the knowledge fair, once again led by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Madam Mama Keita. Mama Keita, one more time for English, may you kindly wave your hands so that the participants can identify you? Speaker 64 [1:17:06]: Yes. Good. That was— Master of Ceremonies [1:17:10]: the first was a French wave, the second was the English wave. All right, so she will take us to the knowledge fair, and after that we will make our way to the cocktail, which will be held in the banquet hall. Ushers are on hand to guide you. We wish you all a wonderful and restful evening. Thank you. Speaker 66 [1:17:26]: Thank you. Gap where evidence is delayed and ideas fade before they are actioned and scaled up. It's time to build a bridge, a bridge from policy to practice. From Dialogue to Delivery. Introducing the Africa Development Impact Forum 2026. Not just another forum, a fundamental break from business as usual. 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. 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.