ASENTI 2025: Capacity Building for Young People to Embrace Entrepreneurship

Kigali, Rwanda – Rwanda is hosting the African Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASENTI 2025) from 13th to 15th November in Kigali, under the theme: “Innovation for a Sustainable Future: Reimagining Africa’s Entrepreneurship.”

Speakers and participants focused on the importance of capacity building for young people to enable them to embrace entrepreneurship. A transformative education model, they said, should integrate entrepreneurship and innovation into all disciplines, encouraging problem-based and experiential learning.

There is also a need to foster collaboration between learners, educators, and local entrepreneurs, while promoting sustainability and ethics as core values in building a responsible business culture.

“This is how we’ll prepare young Africans to become employers, not just employees — to advance transformative and sustainable entrepreneurship. We must bridge the gap between education, industry, and government,”
said Mduduzi Manana, M.A. in Global Policy and former Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, South Africa.

Manana emphasized the need to reimagine the role of the education sector in advancing transformative and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Calvin Jodisi, President of the African Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, highlighted the continued need for capacity building among young people to help them fully embrace entrepreneurship.
“I think there still needs to be a lot of capacity building for young people so that more of them can embrace entrepreneurship. It’s not always about finances — it’s more about building capacity. We need to encourage and support young people to start businesses. And when I talk about support, it’s not necessarily financial, but rather support through knowledge, tools, and mentorship to help them engage in entrepreneurship,” he said.

Jodisi added:
“My message to young people is that we need more of them creating businesses. The only way we can grow our continent is for young Africans to come up with innovative ideas and create the next unicorn companies — like Tesla, Amazon, and other global giants we see today.”

Esther Kunda, Director General in charge of Innovation and Emerging Technologies at the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, emphasized the need for collaboration and policy reform to unlock Africa’s potential.

“I think Africa should have an easier way to work across the continent. We also need to frankly address some of the structural challenges we face. As policymakers, we’re always looking for the next issue to solve — where policy can make a meaningful change,” she said.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges in scaling innovation across African markets, speakers noted, is the lack of entrepreneurial skills among students. However, they believe this can be addressed through entrepreneurial education and continuous encouragement.

“The biggest challenges in scaling innovation in different African markets are students not having enough entrepreneurial skills. But this can be overcome through entrepreneurial education,”
said Jano Simicta, Director of Infrastructure at Marketplace Simulations.

The African Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASENTI) was established 10 years ago with the primary goal of promoting entrepreneurship across Africa and empowering the next generation of innovators.

NYIRANGARUYE Clementine