Thursday, November 4th
13:30 - 14:45
*Note: Please meet in the green room 30min prior to the session start time be mic’d up
About the Africa Investment Forum:
Africa Investment Forum 2022 is the continent’s largest transactional investment marketplace. It brings together deal sponsors, deal brokers and deal makers from around the world. This year’s Market Days event will be the first face-to-face gathering since 2019.
Launched in 2018 by the African Development Bank, AIF provides investors with access to a deal platform, offering bankable and de-risked projects with strong support from Africa’s leading development finance institutions. It is this transactional focus that distinguishes AIF from other African business summits. In addition to the public plenaries and the panel sessions, there will be private boardrooms that focus on specific deals at the Market Days.
Session Description: The Future is Now: Harnessing the demographic dividend through Entrepreneurship
Africa is the youngest and fastest-growing continent in the world and its youth are its single greatest asset. Indeed, it is predicted that some 375 million young people will become of working age in Africa by the end of this decade, with the IMF predicting that there will be more African youths joining the workforce each year than the rest of the world combined by 2035. However, the continent’s jobs gap is daunting, with far, far more workers than jobs. Still, this challenge presents immense opportunities, from implementing policies that advance entrepreneurship as a catalyst for job creation to sector-specific investments in skills to economy-wide interventions to improve allocative efficiency - all of which will be tackled by this panel.
Session Goals:
- Discuss demographic trends across Africa, implications for the future labor market and the investment appeal of a larger market.
- Share experiences with entrepreneurship and examples of innovative partnerships
- Discuss policies governments could implement to advance entrepreneurship as a catalyst for job creation
- Discuss the role of African DFIs in supporting young entrepreneurs in their pan-African growth
Session Format:
This is a 75-minute session, consisting of opening remarks by El-Hassana Kaba, Founder and CEO, MANSA Bank, and a moderated panel discussion. 15 minutes will be reserved at the end for Audience Q&A. The panel will be one lively conversation with a moderator who knows the topic instead of a set of sequential monologues. Answers and interventions should be short and example-rich, with everyone speaking in sentences rather than paragraphs. Long introductions will not be made for panelists as full bios and background information is available to the audience.
Opening Remarks:
- El-Hassana Kaba, Founder and CEO, MANSA Bank
Moderator:
- Aubrey Hruby, Senior Fellow, Africa Center, Atlantic Council; Founder, Tofino Capital
Panelists:
- Haowa Bello, CEO, Madame Coquette
- Mustapha Sow, Managing Director, SF Capital
Questions for Discussion:
- What have been your experiences with entrepreneurship? How did you fund and grow your businesses? What do you think are the biggest challenges facing African entrepreneurs?
- One million Africans turn 18 every month. Where do you think the jobs will come from for them? How do you see yourself playing a role?
- What examples are you seeing of innovative ways governments and DFIs are engaging with entrepreneurs? What is not working?
- What is the role of technology in fueling entrepreneurship on the continent?
- What keeps you up at night? What gives you optimism?