The Students & Young Professionals African Liberty Academy 2026 opened at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, with 100 young Africans spending four days inside a room built by institutions to debate the continent’s economic resilience, governance, innovation and leadership.
The academy runs from August 24 to 27, 2026, under the theme “Africa’s Ascent: Forging Resilient Economies & Inclusive Governance.” It is being convened by the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education in partnership with UPSA. That’s the setup: policy people, academics, entrepreneurs, business leaders, technology specialists, governance experts and other professionals talking directly to young Africans about the choices that could shape the continent’s economic and political future.
Who Gets to Set the Terms
The opening day, themed “Building Resilient Economies: Diversification, Markets and Growth,” focused on the structural challenges confronting African economies and the policy choices required to build more resilient economies. Opening remarks came from IMANI founding president Franklin Cudjoe and UPSA Vice-Chancellor Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, followed by a keynote address from Brigitte Dzogbenuku, Founder and Executive Director of Mentoring Women Ghana.
Economist and University of Ghana Professor of Finance Prof. Godfred A. Bokpin led discussions on innovation, job creation, public service delivery and democratic institutions. Another session examined why many African countries continue to perform poorly on global economic indices and whether successful economic models can be replicated across the continent. The language is all about resilience and growth. The machinery behind it is a familiar one: institutions, experts and policy frameworks deciding what counts as progress.
The programme also includes breakout discussions in which participants are expected to identify major structural obstacles to Africa’s economic transformation and propose strategic solutions. Day Two will shift to “Institutions, Governance and Prosperity,” with participants examining corruption, transparency, public trust, democracy and the role of civil society in Africa.
What They Call Reform
The programme includes a session on “The Accountability Deficit: Corruption, Transparency and Public Trust – How is the African Union measuring up?”, as well as a discussion on the state of democracy in Africa based on citizen perspectives from Afrobarometer research. Participants will also consider the condition of civil society amid declining international development assistance, conflicts and shrinking civic space, and a further discussion will focus on limited government, the rule of law, property rights, economic freedom and free markets.
That’s the reform menu on offer. Corruption, transparency, public trust, democracy, civil society, limited government, property rights, free markets. The academy frames these as the tools for prosperity, while the people living under the results are left to absorb the costs of decisions made far above them.
The third day will turn to “Innovation, Entrepreneurship and the Future Economy,” with artificial intelligence, financial technology, digital public infrastructure, clean energy and critical minerals taking centre stage. The programme includes a session on Africa’s digital transformation and its implications for unemployed people, informal workers and those affected by poverty. Another session will interrogate whether Africa’s clean-energy transition can deliver the reliable, affordable and scalable energy required to power manufacturing, while another will interrogate the claim that Africa’s vast mineral wealth automatically translates into economic prosperity.
What the Young People Are Asked to Build
The 100 participants are divided into four groups of 25, with each group expected to develop a policy recommendation, implementation roadmap, business model or innovation proposal aligned with the day’s theme. The recommendations will be consolidated into a SYPALA 2026 Leadership Declaration to be presented at the closing ceremony.
That’s the shape of participation here: structured, supervised, and folded back into a declaration. The academy says it wants young Africans to help identify obstacles and propose solutions, but the final product still moves through institutional channels and ends up as a declaration at the closing ceremony.
The final day, themed “Africa’s Future: Leadership in a Changing World,” will examine Africa’s position in a multipolar world, the role of business and public policy in economic transformation, and the leadership skills required to deliver inclusive and resilient growth. The academy will conclude with seminar reflections, closing remarks and the presentation of certificates.
Outside the academy, the Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index 2026 offered its own ranking of who gets to thrive under the current order. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Namibia and Egypt are among Africa’s 10 most entrepreneurial ecosystems in 2026. Mauritius topped the overall index, followed by South Africa and Morocco.
The index ranks 30 African countries and assesses entrepreneurial ecosystems across seven pillars: finance, market access, governance, human capital, infrastructure, support and entrepreneurial culture. It does not measure the number of startups or entrepreneurs, but the conditions that enable businesses to start, operate and grow. In other words, it measures the gatekeeping conditions, not the people trying to get through them.
Mauritius took first place with an overall score of 4.30 out of seven. Its performance was driven by strong scores in governance and entrepreneurial support, and it also performed strongly in human capital and infrastructure, with high levels of literacy, tertiary education, electricity access and internet penetration compared with continental averages. Its relatively small domestic market remains a constraint.
South Africa ranked second, benefiting from a relatively sophisticated financial system, a large and diversified economy, and an established network of businesses and institutions supporting entrepreneurs. Its market size and access to financial services provide advantages for companies seeking to expand beyond the startup stage. Morocco secured third place with an overall score of 3.50, making it the highest-ranked country in North Africa. The ranking reflects Morocco’s growing position as a regional business and investment hub, supported by infrastructure development and expanding connections with African and international markets.
Tunisia ranked fourth with an overall score of 3.30, reflecting the importance of human capital, education and the broader support environment available to entrepreneurs and emerging businesses. Namibia ranked fifth with an overall score of 3.10, becoming the highest-ranked country from Southern Africa after South Africa. Cabo Verde ranked sixth with an overall score of 3.00, Algeria ranked seventh with an overall score of 3.00, Egypt ranked eighth with an overall score of 3.00, Botswana ranked ninth with an overall score of 2.80, and Senegal completed the top 10 with an overall score of 2.66 out of seven.
Senegal performed particularly strongly in governance and entrepreneurial culture, with business regulation, corruption perception and trust indicators scoring above the African average. It also ranked above the continental average on 11 of the 20 indicators used in the index, although weaknesses remained in GDP, household income per capita and innovation hubs. The 2026 ranking showed a geographically diverse picture of entrepreneurship in Africa, with countries from North, Southern, Eastern and Western Africa represented among the continent’s leading ecosystems. North African countries accounted for four positions in the top 10.
The AEEI assigns equal weight to its seven pillars and uses 20 indicators to compare national ecosystems. Scores are standardized, with a theoretical maximum of seven, offering policymakers, investors and ecosystem builders a comparative measure of the conditions supporting productive entrepreneurship across the continent. The language is neat. The hierarchy underneath it is even neater.