From Skills to Scale:
Building the Ecosystems Africa’s Young Enterprises Need to Thrive
3rd November, 2026 | 10AM (WAT) | Venue: Virtual Participation
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Why Attend?
The 2026 Breakfast Dialogue marks a decisive shift from isolated training programs and one-off
grants toward building the connected ecosystems Africa’s young enterprises urgently need to thrive.
Beyond examining the gaps between talent, capital, and markets, this conference brings together
public, private, and social sector leaders to address why promising small and growing businesses
struggle to move from survival to scale.
Attendees will gain direct access to practical market
insights, engage with investors and financial institutions on de-risking capital, and participate
in an exclusive hands-on masterclass on leveraging practical AI to boost operational productivity.
Most importantly, the Dialogue serves as a collaborative platform where participants actively shape
the 2026 Opportunity Compact; a unified commitment framework designed to turn strategic conversations
into measurable, continent-wide economic opportunities for Africa's next generation.
Who Should Attend?
The conference convenes a cross-sector audience of visionaries, decision-makers, and builders who are essential to driving Africa's economic transformation. We invite SME founders, young innovators, and startup leaders seeking to scale their enterprises, alongside corporate executives, supply chain directors, and business leaders looking to integrate homegrown talent into global markets.
The Dialogue welcomes commercial bankers, impact investors, venture capitalists, and development finance institution leaders committed to expanding capital readiness, as well as philanthropic foundation heads, non-profit directors, and social sector intermediaries aiming to build lasting growth infrastructure.
We also invite public sector policymakers, government agency representatives, vocational training directors, tech strategists, academic researchers, and young changemakers who are ready to move beyond being beneficiaries to becoming active co-creators of sustainable economic systems.
Our Journey So Far
Editions
Speakers
Thematic Areas
Attendees
Relive the 9th Breakfast Dialogue
Watch the full recap of last year's inspiring event.
Meet the Speakers
Hear from the innovators, advocates, and leaders shaping Africa's future.
Fela Durotoye
Founder/CEO, The GEMSTONE Group
Keynote Address
From Potential to Opportunity: Building Africa’s Next Generation of Enterprises and Talent
Africa has no shortage of entrepreneurial ambition, young talent or innovative ideas. The challenge is creating the systems that connect this potential to the capital, capabilities, markets, technology and networks required to create sustainable value. The keynote will establish the economic and social context for the Dialogue and challenge stakeholders to rethink how opportunity is created and scaled.
Fireside Chat 1
Why Do Good SMEs Struggle to Grow?
Many African SMEs demonstrate entrepreneurial potential but remain trapped at low levels of productivity and growth. The constraints extend beyond access to finance and may include weak management capability, limited market access, inadequate technology, informality, lack of reliable business data and insufficient networks.
This conversation will examine the growth journey of a young enterprise and identify where and why businesses become stuck. The discussion will bring together perspectives from entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, corporates and ecosystem intermediaries to explore topical issues in the sector.
Mezuo Nwuneli
Managing Partner, Sahel Capital
Chinonso Clark
CEO/Founder, Lead For Good Africa
Fireside Chat 2
Beyond Grants & Training: Can the Social Sector Build SME Growth Infrastructure?
Many African SMEs demonstrate entrepreneurial potential but remain trapped at low levels of productivity and growth. The constraints extend beyond access to finance and may include weak management capability, limited market access, inadequate technology, informality, lack of reliable business data and insufficient networks.
This conversation will examine the growth journey of a young enterprise and identify where and why businesses become stuck. The discussion will bring together perspectives from entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, corporates and ecosystem intermediaries to explore topical issues in the sector.
Dr Chinyere Almona
Director-General/CEO, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Em Ekong
Founding Director, Urban Inclusion Community Ltd
Capital Conversation (Panel session)
From Capital Constraints to Capital Readiness
Finance remains a major constraint for many SMEs, but simply increasing the supply of capital does not guarantee enterprise growth. This session will examine the relationship between capital, capability and enterprise readiness, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions and ecosystem actors. The session will also include a strategic panel featuring impact investment organisations.
Andrew Tarazid-Tarawali
Investment Director, Small Foundation
Abiodun Olubitan
Group Head, SME Banking, Access Bank PLC
Tochukwu Ezeukwu
Managing Director, Capital As A Force
Abiodun Owo
Programs Manager, Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation
Masterclass
AI for the Next Generation of SMEs: From Experimentation to Productivity
The masterclass will provide a practical exploration of how SMEs and social enterprises can use AI and digital tools to improve productivity, competitiveness and growth. This session will be highly interactive and exclusive session with the aim of getting measurable commitments and follow-through from attendees.
Special Segments & Event Host
Andrew Olowude
Chief Technology Officer, Xenet AI
Omoye Oriaghan
CEO, CO Communications Limited
Our Partners
We are grateful for the support of our partners who make this event possible.
Get All The Details
Download the official event brochure for the full agenda, speaker profiles, and more.