Young leaders of the energy transition gather in Rome: a bridge between Italia, Africa and Latin America

The energy transition also depends on training the people who will lead it. This is the aim of Open Global Power (OGP), the international programme run by the Enel Foundation which brings together young professionals from Africa and Latin America to develop skills and solutions to the challenges facing the energy sector.

At the MAXXI in Rome, the closing event of the first edition, ‘The Art of Energy Transition: Building Bridges Across Continents’, brought together twenty participants selected from among the programme’s best, in the presence of the Minister for Universities and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, and Lorenzo Ortona, deputy coordinator of the Mission Structure for the Mattei Plan for Africa.

“Initiatives such as Open Global Power play a vital role in building an international community of researchers, innovators and future leaders who understand the complexity of the challenges that lie ahead, build bridges between disciplines and turn ideas into concrete solutions,” said Bernini, emphasising the value of research and training in international cooperation.

The project builds on the experience of Open Africa Power, which between 2018 and 2025 trained around 600 young professionals in collaboration with the universities of Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Cape Town and the African School of Regulation. The network now spans 38 countries, and in 2025 the programme was included among the projects under the Mattei Plan.

“Open Global Power is in line with the key principles that today underpin the Mattei Plan for Africa, in particular the importance of partnerships on an equal footing, a focus on local priorities and investment in human capital,” says Ortona. The expansion into Latin America broadens the scope for exchange and collaboration.