Ten years to support Africa and its youth

Behind the numbers are faces and stories. Young people who have opened technology start-ups, women who have created social enterprises, farmers who have made their production sustainable.

Concrete experiences that show that Africa is not just a passive recipient of aid, but a partner with whom to build a future.

This is why E4Impact today concretely represents a best practice of the Mattei Plan for Africa.

For ten years we have been putting its pillars into practice: the centrality of education and entrepreneurship, cooperation between peers, and the enhancement of sectors that unite Africa and Italy - from agribusiness to health, from education to renewable energy, and fashion and design. And we do this by promoting alliances between business and civil society, between the academic world and the world of production.

We are aware that the context remains difficult. In 2024 almost half of the world's conflicts were concentrated in Africa; 67% of the world's people below the poverty line live there; access to food, water, health and education is still a privilege for too many.

It is precisely in these scenarios that the Mattei Plan can and must make a difference, and we are ready to contribute.

Our 10-year anniversary is not a milestone to celebrate, but a starting point. We want to strengthen the Mba in 12 countries, create entrepreneurship centres in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Senegal, launch new business incubators and accelerators, and accompany more Italian SMEs to open up to Africa thanks to partners such as Simest and Sace.

We also work on innovative projects, from circular labour migration, bringing skilled workers to Italy, to online courses for entrepreneurs, to supporting African companies ready to grow nationally and internationally.

This decade has taught us that alone we can do little, but together we can do a lot. That is why we are calling on new companies, associations, institutions and civil society to join us.

The government's Mattei Plan provides the framework. E4Impact, with its experience, can be a concrete model of how to turn good principles into concrete results.

The future of Africa and Italy is intertwined. And it is together that we can build it.

As an African proverb reminds us: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." This is the lesson of these ten years of E4Impact, and it is the challenge that awaits us with the Mattei Plan.

President E4Impact Foundation.