2022 YouthConnekt Africa summit wrapped up in Rwanda with calls to invest in youth

The 5th edition of the YouthConnekt Africa summit that ended in Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday (15 October) was attended by thousands of young innovators and leaders from all across the world who discussed different ways to promote growth and advancement for the youth of the African continent.

This year’s summit — on the theme “Accelerating investments in Youth: Resilient Youth, Resilient Africa” — featured 3 days of conferences, masterclasses and networking sessions. It brought together participants from 30 African countries to discuss and chart a way forward on how to involve the youth in Africa’s trade, health, climate resilience and financing, technology, and skilling for the future among other topics.

Among the high level delegates were Kenyan Deputy President Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who stressed that the youth are a resilient movement that will contribute to a prosperous 2063 agenda for a better Africa.

According to findings by the United Nations Development Programs (UNDP) 42% of Young people in Africa don’t have access to the funding needed to run their businesses. They, therefore, fall to get that funding. Sometimes their ideas remain in the back of their brains and they are unable to take their dreams to the market and reach their customers.

The African Union (AU)’s 2063 agenda is the continent’s framework which aims to deliver on goals for inclusive and sustainable development according to the AU, it is a manifestation of the “pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity.