Image: Freepik
“Africa’s youth are not waiting for the future; they are building it now.”
– Pan-African Youth Forum, Djibouti, Nov. 2025
Africa Youth Day 2025 was observed on 1 November, which marked the start of Africa Youth Month and commemorated the 20th anniversary of the African Youth Charter. The 2025 theme is “From Aspiration to Action: Youth as Agents of Reparative Justice and Sustainable Development”. The month’s events included the Pan African Youth Forum in Djibouti from 4 to 6 November, which focused on translating aspirations into tangible actions for a just and prosperous Africa.
“The Africa We Want”
In a statement on Africa Youth Day, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the AU Commission, paid tribute to Africa’s young people as “the vibrant heartbeat and driving force of our continent who play a critical role in shaping our continent’s future.”
He added: “we celebrate your unmatched energy that fuels Africa’s tech hubs, innovation labs and community movements; your unbreakable resilience that turns challenges into opportunities; and your creative vision that is already building the Africa We Want.”
Youth as power advocates for change
“As the generation that will inherit the most severe consequences of climate change—especially with the increasing likelihood of surpassing 1.5°C of warming—youth must be empowered with the skills, funding, and opportunities to lead,” says the Earth Day consultant Johnny Dabrowski.
He continues, “climate-related hazards are already disrupting young lives through school closures, extreme weather, and displacement. Between January 2022 and June 2024, a minimum of 404 million students faced school closures due to extreme weather events, according to the World Bank Report Education for Climate Action. At the same time, youth have become powerful advocates for change.”
“As an educator in Nigeria, I believe that climate-literate students will be the leaders of tomorrow,” says Anjola Ayodele, the founder of ClimateHub.org. “A well-informed public is key to supporting environmental policies—and Africa, already facing the brunt of the climate crisis, must invest in climate education today.”
Successful green businesses
Several young entrepreneurs across Africa are leading successful green businesses focused on renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and waste management. These innovators are creating local solutions to environmental and economic challenges while fostering job creation and sustainable development.
Some successful young green entrepreneurs in Africa and their ventures include:
Renewable energy and efficiency:
Waste management and circular economy:
Sustainable agriculture and food security:
Challenges
The challenges that young African entrepreneurs encounter include limited access to funding, especially early-stage financing for startups seeking to scale their operations. In addition, regulatory barriers and varying regulatory environments across the continent can slow down expansion. Then infrastructural challenges, such as unreliable electricity, internet connectivity challenges and inadequate transportation networks, not only can negatively impact business growth, but can stymie new ventures early on.
Various programmes and funds offer financial help for African youth and youth-led enterprises in the green economy, primarily through grants, concessional loans and technical assistance. Key institutions involved include the African Development Bank (AfDB), national development agencies (like South Africa’s IDC and DBSA) and private sector initiatives, such as the popular pitch programme at the annual Africa’s Green Economy Summit.
Green entrepreneurship is a necessity
Samuel Muyita is the co-founder of Karpolax in Uganda that produces biodegradable sachets that extend the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. As a young entrepreneur he believes that “it’s important for the youth to be part of the green economy dialogue because it enables the young people to be part of the future. Green entrepreneurship and green economy is really not a choice for Africa, it’s a necessity. So involving the youth means that we are involving the next generation of young minds, this generation of the people that are going to define the direction of our continent.”
Abdilahi Nuh agrees. He is an engineered carbon removal project developer based in Nairobi, Kenya and the founder and CEO of Presto Innovations. “It’s very important to have more young people in the carbon market space. And as you know, being in the climate space, we, the young people are the ones who are going to be affected by the consequences and decisions made internationally. So it’s very vital to have young people in this space to understand and to follow up on what’s going on around the world in terms of carbon markets.” [Read and watch the full interview here.]
The last word goes to the COP30 Youth Champion Marcele Oliveira who told the Brazil gathering recently that “fossil fuels are destroying dreams” and calling a shift away from them “the most important climate justice mobilisation of this generation. We need to do this now, so let’s make this happen.”
Africa's Green Economy Summit connects industry professionals and organisations to information and each other in a carefully curated live environment. Its purpose is to support in mobilising investments for green projects to scale up and industrialisation, which will have a significant impact on environmental sustainability and economic growth.
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