A $490 million investment program by the African Development Bank (AfDB), headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire, is benefiting up to forty thousand youth across fifteen African nations, fostering agribusiness enterprises and creating employment opportunities. The Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment Youth Program, discussed in a recent workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, aims to provide financing for young African entrepreneurs, addressing youth unemployment and promoting entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. The workshop emphasized the importance of skills development, job creation, and private sector engagement in leveraging Africa’s demographic dividend, with key figures from the AfDB highlighting the transformative potential of youth-led agribusiness ventures.
The workshop concluded with a commitment to address challenges faced by youth agripreneurs through holistic approaches, fostering partnerships, and creating an enabling ecosystem for youth empowerment and sustainable development.