Burkina-Faso, more precisely Ouagadougou, its capital, will have the chance to host the Pan-African Startup Summit, which will take place from 26 to 28 May 2017. This will be an opportunity for young people from Africa, as well as those from the African diaspora to showcase their startup initiatives.
This event will take place under the eyes of Roch Marc Christian Kabore, President of Burkina Faso. The summit will be sponsored by Mr. Mabingue Ngom, Regional Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Central and West Africa. An initiative of the Youth-Global African Initiative Network (Youth Gain), in close collaboration with the Government of Burkina Faso and UNFPA as well as a pan-African think tank, the event aims to promote start-up projects by young Africans.
Africa has the wind in its sails
The African continent is increasingly involved in digital and ICT-related activities.
As Lionel Zinsou, a renowned Franco-Beninese economist, said: “Digital technology is an opportunity for Africa”.
By turning to digital and new technologies, Africa is giving itself a chance to boost its economy.
Moreover, Africa is showing its desire to “change the era” with the emergence of a multitude of new innovative projects across the continent, in key sectors such as education, health, trade and agriculture among others. This craze for new technologies is encouraging the country’s economic players and politicians to invest in new sectors.
However, young African nuggets find themselves hampered in their startup initiatives due to the lack of support, funding and promotion of their innovative ideas. This represents a major problem for the advancement of these young talents.
A strategic summit
Harnessing the innovative ideas of young Africans to help transcend the pan-African economy is one of the goals of this Start-Up Summit. This event will perhaps be the spearhead of an African economy based on new technologies, especially digital. Other objectives of this summit include:
- Sharing experiences and success stories, highlighting the challenges that will allow African youth to move forward,
- The establishment of a global platform of startups run by young Africans, which will allow to measure the impact of various initiatives on the continent,
- The creation of the #Youth-Promoting-Youth #ForConcreateJobs label.
A unique event on the African continent
The Pan-African High Level Summit on African Youth-led Start-up Initiatives is a first for the continent. Indeed, this event will bring together more than 2,000 participants, with Heads of State and Government, celebrities, financial institutions as well as African startups that are already shining on the market. The theme of the summit is :
“Startups, opportunities to create jobs for young people.”
This Pan-African summit, the first of its kind on the continent, aims to pave the way for other initiatives with the common goal of promoting the ideas of young Africans, but also to contribute to the development and consolidation of the country’s economy.
Themes and highlights of the summit:
- State of the art of existing start-ups
- Success stories and shared experiences
- Discussion, reflection and exchange with the panel
- Women’s entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial capacity building for girls
- Solutions for financial and technological support of start-ups
- Plenary debates and summaries of the work of subcommissions
- B to C exhibitions
- Gala Dinner with the Heads of State
