Strategic conversation with Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation

The impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s economy and health systems has been widely publicised, but macroeconomic figures often don’t tell the story of what these changes mean for the lives of people, especially African youth. Lockdown has meant many things for people across the globe, but for many in Africa the human toll has been even more severe, with livelihoods being devastated, particularly in the informal sector, which makes up approximately 1/3 of the global labour force. There are concerns about compensating for lost jobs and devastated businesses but also about increased poverty, rising malnutrition and risk of famine. African leaders have asked for debt forgiveness for their faltering economies. There are concerns that COVID-19 will impact on progress in achieving an African Free Trade Area. What is needed to ensure that Africa’s recovery is fast, rapid and sustained.

This Strategic Conversation with Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation with will look at the effects of the pandemic on economies and societies in Africa, and the road to Africa’s economic recovery. It is part of Friends of Europe’s expanding Africa Programme which includes the Africa Europe Alliance, the High-Level Group of African and European Personalities and the Development Policy Forum.

• How has the economic slump of COVID affected the lives of people in Africa – and what can be done to ease the negative impact?
• What role will start-ups and small businesses play in the recovery, and how can we use the recovery to empower a more diversified, sustainable and green economy?
• What can be done to provide Africa’s young people with jobs and is the introduction of a basic minimum income being envisaged?