Lusaka, 14 April 2025 — The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Sub Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA), in collaboration with the ECA African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) and the Office of the Executive Secretary, convened a high-level virtual webinar on the theme "Unlocking Regional Value Chains: Empowering Youth-Led Enterprises in Africa to Thrive Under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)."
The webinar — the fourth in the ECA's Stock-Taking Webinar Series — forms part of the engagement ahead of the inaugural African Development Impact Forum (ADIF), scheduled for 11 and 12 June 2026 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ADIF is ECA's flagship solutions platform, focused on the theme "Best Practices and Innovative Solutions for Job Creation in Africa."
With nearly 70% of Africa's population under the age of 30, and the continent faced with the task to generate approximately 15 million jobs annually to absorb its rapidly growing workforce, youth unemployment has emerged as one of the most pressing development challenges of our time.
In Southern Africa, the situation is particularly acute. Youth unemployment exceeds 60% in South Africa and ranges between 35–40% in Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini. Compounding the challenge, 70–80% of African businesses fail within their first five years — not due to a lack of ideas, but due to inadequate financing, weak market linkages, and systemic barriers to regional and global trade.
Opening the Forum, Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director of IDEP, reaffirmed ECA's commitment to moving beyond rhetoric.
"ADIF is not another conference. It is an action-oriented platform — built to systematically translate research and evidence into measurable outcomes," she said. "We are not arriving in June with open questions. We are arriving with practical recommendations, co-created solutions, and a clear plan for implementation."
Ms. Ben Soltane emphasized that ADIF operates through a deliberate three-stage process: identifying high-potential solutions before the Forum, refining them with stakeholders, and launching an Implementation Clock to sustain post-Forum momentum and track progress.
Ms. Eunice G. Kamwendo, Director of ECA SRO-SA, called for a fundamental shift in how Africa approaches youth economic inclusion — from treating young people as job seekers to empowering them as job creators, and from fragmented markets to integrated regional value chains.
"If we are serious about unlocking regional value chains for youth, then we must act decisively — each of us playing a role in creating solutions to unleash this potential," Ms. Kamwendo stated, calling on governments, financial institutions, the private sector, and development partners to act in a concrete and coordinated manner.
"Africa's future will not be built for youth — it must be built with them and by them," she added.
The webinar spotlighted compelling examples of African youth already transforming constraints into opportunity.
Ms. Kamwendo also shared the story of Gugulethu Siso, a young Zimbabwean entrepreneur who built Thumeza — a logistics platform — after struggling to send basic goods to her grandmother in a rural village. What began as a logistics solution has evolved into a platform that enables small transporters to access working capital and receive faster payments. Thumeza now operates across Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, and Uganda, and is actively positioning to leverage opportunities from the AfCFTA.
Ms. Tasha Chitika, Founder of Wingy General Dealers (Zambia), shared her first-hand experience as a cross-border trader, highlighting practical enablers that allowed her youth-led enterprise importing salt from Botswana and Namibia to integrate into regional value chains — including transport pooling with fellow SMEs, use of the SADC Certificate of Origin for tax-free benefits, and mobile money payments for security and efficiency. She flagged lack of access to information and foreign exchange facilities at the border as constraints to doing business.
Mr. Saul Levin, Executive Director, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), examined the landscape facing youth-led enterprises seeking to access regional value chains. He analysed structural impediments to integrating youth-led SMEs into value chains at national, regional, and continental levels.
Mr. Khulekani Mathe of the SADC Business Council highlighted limited work experience and skills and education gaps as key factors affecting youth employment and enterprise development. He stressed the importance of fostering linkages between youth-led SMEs and Multinationals as a means to address such gaps.
Ms. Katrina Amupolo, Manager at the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB), outlined how government institutions can play a catalytic role — connecting entrepreneurs to regional networks, unlocking youth finance through credit guarantee mechanisms and supporting innovation through initiatives such as the “Scale Up Namibia” programme.
Mr. Misheck Gondo, Regional Coordinator of the Southern African Youth Forum (SAYoF), while delivering the Vote of Thanks, underscored the critical importance of cross-institutional partnerships in translating dialogue into impact.
The webinar was moderated by Ms. Bineswaree Bolaky, Economic Affairs Officer, ECA SROSA. She highlighted that ECA was developing AfCFTA Step-by-Step Guides for the private sector to bridge information and implementation gaps. In her concluding remarks, Ms. Zodwa Mabuza, Regional Advisor at ECA SRO-SA, briefed participants on the way forward and highlighted the concrete outcomes anticipated at ADIF in June 2026.
The webinar series will continue over a six-month period, crowdsourcing insights across sectors and regions to build a shared, inclusive knowledge base — ensuring that when stakeholders convene in Addis Ababa, they arrive equipped with evidence-based, actionable solutions aligned with Africa's Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
About ADIF
The African Development Impact Forum (ADIF) is ECA's flagship solutions platform, designed as an action-oriented, multi-stage initiative that bridges research, policy, and implementation. Its inaugural edition — focused on job creation — will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in June 2026. ADIF is complementary to existing ECA platforms, including the Annual Conference of Ministers, the Africa Business Forum, and the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.
Issued by:
The Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa
UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
P.O. Box 30647, Lusaka, Zambia.
Media Contacts:
Ms. Lavender Degre
Communication Officer
Tel: +260 211 228502/5 Ext. 21307
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Email: lavender.degre@un.org