NEIP CEO Eric Adjei: Africa’s Youth Must Lead the Continent’s Innovation Revolution

It is my distinct honour to address this important International Conference on Business Innovation and Incubation here in South Africa.

I bring you warm greetings from His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana, the Ghanaian government, and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme.

I also extend my sincerest appreciation to Walter Sisulu University for hosting this important gathering and for its continued commitment to innovation, academic excellence, entrepreneurship, and impactful research.

Distinguished guests, this conference comes at a very important moment in the development agenda of Africa. Across our continent, we are witnessing a generation of young Africans who are embracing innovation and a determination to find answers to the many challenges facing our continent and communities.

Africa’s youth bulge comes with it a yearning and questing generation who are developing tech applications, climate-smart solutions, financial technologies, manufacturing innovations, creative businesses, and new approaches to healthcare and education, among others.

Africa’s challenge is no longer simply about generating ideas.

Our challenge is how to build integrated and coordinated systems across the continent that transform ideas into businesses, take advantage of market opportunities, develop sustainable financing mechanisms for innovations, and sustainable solutions to address peculiar challenges of Africa and beyond.