AfYEF is a league of youth entrepreneurship organizations from across the African continent that serves as a representative voice for young entrepreneurs on AfCFTA. In late 2020, AfYEF began as an informal group of a few African youth entrepreneurship organizations who identified the need to form a synergy to mobilize their members for AfCFTA.

As an apex body, AfYEF was therefore formed with the primary objective of empowering African youth organizations to mobilize and support young entrepreneurs across the continent to actively participate and benefit from the AfCFTA agreement.

AfYEF aims to drive trade, advocate for policy reforms, provide business support services with needed information on funding source to facilitate access to credit and improve the business eco-system for the development of African youth entrepreneurs with a special focus on AfCFTA.

AfYEF has its headquarters situated in Ghana and currently have a combined membership strength of about 100,000

We understand that with the introduction of AfCFTA, African young people are expected to play a key role in realizing the full potentials of the agreement. However, without the relevant knowledge, tools and capacity, youth businesses might not be able to maximize the benefits of AfCFTA or play any meaningful role. AfYEF is therefore set to ensure that African Young entrepreneurs gets all the needed support to leverage the large market offered by AfCFTA.

We are convinced that entrepreneurship makes an enormous and often under-recognized contribution towards economic development, and with over 70% of the African’s population been youth, young entrepreneurs have the potential to be a key driver toward prosperity. AfYEF seeks to play a role in building that human capital for the future, unleashing the economic potential of young people and promoting sustainable growth and development in the continent and beyond.

These coalitions seek to champion the cause of young entrepreneurs at the local, national, regional and international level, through their engagement with governments, the media, the public, and other relevant stakeholders on issues relating to AfCFTA. We are committed to achieving measurable progress towards the development of youth entrepreneurship and innovation within the continent.