Moses Baffour Awuah
Ghana will host the Orange Youth Festival (OYF) and the Africa We Want Symposium from August 19 to 22, 2026 at Valley View University, Oyibi, off the Adenta-Dodowa Road.
The event, under the theme “Innovating for Sovereignty: African Youth as Architects of Agenda 2063,” is being organised by Youth Arise Organisation as a multi-sector continental youth convergence platform.
According to Moses Baffour Awuah, Convener of the Orange Youth Festival, Africa’s youth are not just the future — they are the present. “Africa is the youngest continent in the world. With more than 60% of our population under the age of 25, we are not preparing for the future. We are the future. Yet demographics alone do not create transformation. Structure does,” he said.
Mr. Awuah noted that the festival was established to bridge a critical gap on the continent. “Young Africans are innovating, creating, and building, but too often without structured policy alignment, coordinated investment pathways, or continental integration,” he said.
He added that OYF will bring together youth leaders, creatives, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and development partners around one shared mandate: to build The Africa We Want in alignment with Agenda 2063. “This is not merely a festival. It is a convergence. It is a continental policy laboratory. It is a marketplace of innovation. It is a movement toward sovereignty,” he stressed.
The four-day festival will integrate: Creative Industry Showcases, Orange Economy, Youth Innovation & Enterprise Expo, High-Level Policy Dialogue, Investment & Partnership Engagement, and Continental Strategy Labs.
Organisers say the platform will address a key challenge: that young Africans are building startups, scaling agribusinesses, designing digital solutions, and leading community transformation, but these efforts remain fragmented.
Key objectives the symposium aims to achieve include: Develop the Accra Communiqué outlining youth priorities under the 7 Aspirations of Agenda 2063; Establish a Multi-Stakeholder Platform connecting youth innovators, AU representatives, governments, and development institutions; Empower and showcase youth enterprise within Africa’s Orange Economy; and Promote youth ownership and accountability toward Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke