African Energy On Discussion As Second Youth Energy Summit Holds in Nairobi

The Youth Energy Summit (YES!) will return for its second edition this summer in Nairobi, Kenya, as it looks to build on the platform built last year to boost skills, connections and the business readiness of future African energy leaders.

Hosted by EnergyNet in conjunction with the Africa Energy Forum, the inaugural YES! gathering in Brussels in 2022 emphasised the significance of early career professionals, entrepreneurs, students and educators in accelerating access to reliable energy across Africa. This year, thanks to a growing list of key partnerships across corporates, foundations, NGOs, universities and sector initiatives, YES! has a chance to showcase its credentials on home soil between 20-23 June.

YES! invites hundreds of Africans at different stages of their public and private sector development, to convene, to inspire, and to be inspired. Learning both soft and technical skills, it is an opportunity for early career professionals and students to seek guidance from educators, entrepreneurs and energy experts. The blended programme addresses leadership skills, business development and planning, onboarding, tech and innovation, green capital finance, and ultimately narrows the gap between education and employment. In exchange, the young and exciting attendees will also put forward their vision for the sustainable futures they want to strive for.

“YES! 2022 was, in one word, scintillating. From the sessions to the speakers to the attendees, every element of the Summit connected and contributed greatly to its success,” says a University of Nigeria student who attended last year’s event.

Students at this year’s forum will join sessions that explore their perceptions of the future, how they can reach their potential, how they can fill skills shortages in the energy sector, and what they’re looking for in terms of guidance from educators and professionals.

“The launch was a huge success. I truly enjoyed how we got the opportunity to engage with different stakeholders and young people, imparting invaluable knowledge that I’m confident will be of great benefit moving forward in the progression and development of my career, and theirs,” adds an early career professional from the IPP Office.

Early career professionals will ultimately take Africa forward and YES! offers them a forum to build relationships with peers, to learn from global technology designers, and to be inspired by those shaping the future of energy in Africa.

Among them are an ever-growing list of partner organisations supporting YES! as the event continues to scale. A new and exciting addition to the list this year, is the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) who join in 2023 as the event’s first foundational partner.

The GEAPP is an alliance of philanthropists, local entrepreneurs, governments, technology enablers, policymakers and finance partners, with a mission to support developing countries’ shifts to a clean energy, pro-growth model that ensures universal energy access as well as economic development. Its aim to reduce four gigatons of future carbon emissions, expand clean energy access to one billion people, and enable 150 million new jobs aligns with the goals of the Africa Energy Forum and YES!.

“GEAPP is thrilled to be joining as a foundational partner for the Youth Energy Summit,” says Joseph Nganga, GEAPP’s VP for Africa. “Young entrepreneurs are often excluded from all aspects of the energy transition value chain, and they face disproportionate barriers to educational opportunities, project finance, and decent jobs, particularly those in emerging and developing economies where access is compounded by additional development challenges. To meet ambitious global goals of hundreds of millions of green jobs by 2030, it is urgent that young people are trained and supported now to access opportunities and accelerate growth in the renewables sectors as they seek opportunities in the workforce. GEAPP looks forward to working with EnergyNet to unlock the abundant potential of young entrepreneurs who will lead the energy transition and realise a more equal and sustainable world.”

Simon Gosling, Managing Director, EnergyNet, adds: “I’m grateful to GEAPP for their partnership as they seek to address both climate change and skills shortages through their network of partners and investments. Not only does the partnership bring in critical investment to provide more travel grants and greater market penetration, but it brings a year-round partnership striving in harmony to put Africans at the heart of their own development needs.”

These development needs grow in significance each year, with YES! acknowledging the fact that future planning must begin now, and must include those who will shape that future.

Simon continues: “It is no longer helpful to state that 600 million Africans lack access to energy as a statistic of relevance, without addressing the fact that this number is only getting larger as population growth continues its war against energy access. By building an all-of-sector alliance to establish the world’s largest network of potential African energy developers, entrepreneurs and MSMEs, YES! will speed up the pace of energy access for millions more people across the continent.”

YES! has a goal of reaching 100 million people across Africa over the next 10 years through its network-based approach to upskilling and industry progression. You can be one of those people in Nairobi this summer!