Unstoppable Africa 2024 Agenda

Subnational governments play a key role in creating the environment for business to thrive, with cities being the engines of growth and accounting for 80% of global GDP. The world’s urban population is exploding and is expected to almost double by 2050 to over 6 billion people. Assembling a group of action-oriented US and African subnational government leaders, this session aims to compare notes and highlight solutions that ensure urban centres are optimised to power private sector success. 

Amid competing priorities and limited funding, official development aid flows to Africa have been relatively flat over the past decades, remaining below its peak in 2006. At the same time foreign direct investment flows to Africa have also not materially increased. Despite the enviable potential of the African continent for a green revolution with abundant wind, sun, water, and critical minerals, Africa is facing a critical climate financing shortfall that is preventing the transition to the sustainable future Africa and the world needs. With Africa getting less than 5% of the world’s global climate financing, now is the time to close that climate finance gap. As we approach COP29 - the so-called “Financing COP” - this session aims to address the challenges around investments flow to Africa and the potential of Africa driving the green revolution if those shortfalls can be addressed. 

Curated by UNGC’s Africa Business Leaders Coalition (ABLC), it explores how, in light of the slow mobilisation of capital and the broken promises, Africa's private and public sectors, along with foreign capital providers, can come together to advance bankable projects and how a favourable policy and enabling environment for funding can be fostered.

This session, co-curated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, fosters a dynamic discussion on the groundbreaking Lobito Corridor. The rail link, described as: “the most significant transport infrastructure that the U.S. will help to develop on the African continent in a generation”, will link the three countries of Angola, DRC and Zambia, encouraging development in mining and other sectors such as digital, financial, energy, agriculture, and health. As we highlight how the railway will fast-track national and regional growth, the presidents of the host countries share the policies and collaborations they are prioritizing to ensure that the Lobito Corridor is a success for generations to come.

African countries are in danger of being left behind as the world races towards a digital future. The pace of development in areas such as AI is breathtaking and much has changed just in the year since Unstoppable Africa last convened. In this scene-setting panel that kicks off our Digital Transformation conversations, an eclectic mix of business leaders, financiers and innovators candidly lay out what it will take for Africa to accelerate its ambitions to realise a healthy digital economy in Africa. From solving the conundrum of financing to crafting the right policies that will foster growth and inclusivity, to how our young people can harness technology to change a world in crisis, this session is a window into Africa’s digital future.  

On the roads of Kinshasa in DRC, AI-driven Traffic Robots are reducing accidents by 60%. Farmers in Nairobi, Kenya, are harnessing the power of AI to predict droughts and test soil health. The future of our planet is being shaped by Artificial Intelligence as it hurdles along at breathtaking speed. The global AI market is projected to reach $407 billion by 2027, and in Africa AI could double GDP growth rate by 2035. But AI’s promise will not automatically translate into economic growth and opportunity. It will take concerted action - by governments, the private sector and civil society - to create an
environment where Africa gets ahead of the curve and becomes a centre for the creation and expansion of AI, and not merely a market of passive consumers. Plus, how can Africa - in the spirit of ‘ubuntu’ - encourage a global approach to AI that fosters inclusivity and collective growth? 

In this session - powered by Google - some of the figures on the cutting edge of AI identify how we responsibly create an environment for investments, innovation and partnerships and chart a course to seize the opportunities and avoid the pitfalls associated with this brave new world.

Africa’s future will be shaped by visionaries, investors and entrepreneurs who see the continent’s potential not just for what it is today but for what it can become. Itana is building a unique digital zone for global technology, finance and service-based businesses to operate in Nigeria and scale with ease across Africa, completely online and to operate remotely from anywhere in the world. With business incentives such as tax, immigration and banking, the Itana Digital Free Zone will be coupled with a live-in accelerator program and physical live-work districts that will showcase the future of cities in Africa. Itana will make an announcement of a major milestone achievement in the evolution of the zone.

Presented by: Mr. Luqman Edu, Co-founder and CEO, Itana

Globally, 50 to 85 million people will be needed to fill new technology roles in the next decade.  Africa has the potential to solve this humongous challenge. The reasoning is simple: Africa has the fastest-growing, most youthful population in the world at a time when the rest of the world’s workforce is shrinking. Tech accelerators and incubators can be dynamic launchpads for Africa’s young entrepreneurs, giving them the essential tools to turn clever ideas into innovative solutions. 

Powered by UNDP’s timbuktoo ecosystem, this session takes a close look timbuktoo and some of the programs and people shaping the continent’s next generation of tech startups.

Video: timbuktoo

Scene setting:

• Patoranking, Singer and songwriter & UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for Africa 
   

Panel: Three young startup founders from the first timbuktoo cohort present their innovative tech businesses and what the timbuktoo initiative means for their entrepreneurial journeys and their lives:

• Ms. Delwende Eliane Birba, Founder & CEO, RoyalPay
• Ms. Yasmeen Dabees, Founder & CEO, UltraTeb
• Mr. Emmanuel Obasuyi, Founder, Onye Sync (HealthTech) CONFIRMED

Reactions:

• H.E. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Guardian, timbuktoo Initiative and Immediate Past Vice President of Nigeria CONFIRMED
• Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa, Assistant Secretary-General and Director, UNDP Africa Bureau
• Ms. Eva Yazhari, General Partner, Beyond Capital Ventures CONFIRMED

The theme Unstoppable Africa: The Solution for a Global Future

In ‘Unstoppable Africans’ some of the continent’s most inspirational changemakers in business, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability take to the stage to share their remarkable achievements and their vision for an Unstoppable Africa.

African sport is going global. From record breakers like Kenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, to Tunisian tennis player Ons Jabeur, to the proliferation of African or Africa Diaspora athletes at the top of their game, African sport is receiving unprecedented attention. On the continent the business of sport is evolving rapidly, with such developments as the Basketball Africa League (BAL), established in 2019, and this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, which some are calling the best tournament yet. In this fast-paced session explore how to build on these successes to realise distinctly African sports economies that attract continental and global investment, boosting lives and livelihoods and building world-class infrastructure.

As we look for African solutions for a world seeking answers, powerful imagery can be a visceral window into ourselves and to the Africa We Want. Groundbreaking visual artist Ludovic Nkoth moved from Cameroon to the United States at the age of 13. His artistic creations now capture the essence of the black experience with an unparalleled emotional depth that resonates with the diasporic life and the rich history of his heritage. In this rapid-fire session Ludovic shares his thoughts on myths, imagination and the creation of new worlds.

Some call it the biggest African export ever. Afrobeats artists like Burna Boy, Tems, and WizKid, and Amapiano stars like South Africa’s Tyla are winning Grammys or headlining sell-out concerts in the USA and Europe, shifting millions of dollars of merchandise and doing billions of streams. The world's biggest pop stars are also tapping into the scene with a growing list of collaborations that include Beyoncé, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, and Justin Bieber. The world's three major music labels - Sony, Universal, and Warner - are signing the continent’s biggest artists, closing licensing deals, and expanding their footprint in Africa. Plus, more established stars like Benin’s Angelique Kidjo and Egyptian crooner Amr Diab are still pulling in crowds globally. As African artists take over the world, we look at what that could mean back home in Africa. How can the continent seize the moment and benefit from this global export to see a boost in skills, investment and infrastructure in its music industry?

There’s an old adage that goes: “You’ll get more with sugar than with salt.” The persuasive power of so-called ‘Soft Power’ to influence the preferences and behaviours of various actors in the international arena is undeniable. African music, film, arts, and sport is a powerful tool to reorientate global perceptions and misconceptions about the continent we love.

To say there’s room for growth in African fashion would be an understatement. The global fashion industry is estimated to be worth $2.5 trillion but Africa’s cut of that cloth, at $31bln, is a paltry 1%. While African fashion continues to make waves around the world, it suffers from a lack of investment and access to markets that curtails its growth. Hope comes in the form of a determined crop of mostly female designers, separated by oceans, but united in their ambition to use fashion as a force for change.