ITC @ 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5)

It is estimated that globally one third of the world’s 1.8 billion young women and men are neither in employment, education or training. One billion additional youth will enter the job market during the next decade. The global economy will need to create an additional 600 million jobs or entrepreneurial opportunities over the next 10 years to keep pace with these projected demographic developments.

Young people lack access to relevant opportunities and support networks in relation to skills development, jobs, opportunities for entrepreneurship, markets, finance. We need to empower our youth through an enabling ecosystem covering policy, business support organisations, access to finance and linkages with private sector partners. An exciting speaker line-up ensures that all perspectives are represented.

• Ms. Pamela Coke Hamilton, Executive Director, International Trade Centre (ITC)
• Mr. Gunter Beger, Managing Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
• Representative of the Ministry of Sport and Youth of the State of Qatar
• Mr. Nizar Yaiche, Leader, Global Digital Network, Government & Public Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner
• Mr. Mayank Dhingra, Senior Education Business Leader, Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa (SEMA), Hewlett Packard
• Mr. Carl Manlan, Vice President, Inclusive Impact & Sustainability, Central & Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (SEMA), Visa
• Ms. Dhuha Abdulmunem, Manager, Iraq Response Innovation Lab (IRIL) – Ye! Community Chapter Iraq
• Ms. Mara Zhanet Michelo, CEO and founder, Jacaranda Hub
Moderated by: Mr. David Cordobés, Head of Youth & Trade programme, ITC

Under the High Patronage of H.E. Mr. Mohamed Bazoum, President of Niger, ITC, the African Union Commission and UNIDO are hosting this timely discussion in partnership with the European Union, ECOWAS and BADEA.

It is expected that African start-ups funding will grow to $10bn by 2056 (World Economic Forum, 2022). In 2021, tech start-ups in Africa reached approximately $2.15bn in capital investment to drive their economic activities. Start-ups Acts were concluded in a number of African countries, such as in Senegal, Tunisia and recently in Nigeria. These are paving the way for policy instruments aimed at boosting key incentives for young people to start and fast track their businesses.

The focus of the side event is to advocate and sensitize African leaders, development partners, private sector, civil society, and governments at all levels to renew and strengthen their commitments to the development of a vibrant start-ups ecosystem that promotes innovation and digital transformation. The main objective is to enhance an enabling environment for African start-ups and young entrepreneurs to deploy digital technology to create jobs and drive future economic growth of African LDCs within the framework of Industry 4.0 and economic recovery post-COVID19.

Digital trade and ecommerce play an important role in reaching the goals set out in the “Doha Programme of Action”. Join us to look at the opportunities for LDCs to leverage e-commerce, and digital trade in general, for economic transformation. We consider how tools of digital promotion are transforming the prospects even for non-tech businesses and how strategic frameworks at country and regional level can serve as catalysts.

Beyond the immediate imperatives for businesses to weather the current turbulence in the macroeconomy, we consider the longer-term implications of trade shifting to e-commerce and try to understand how far and in what way this can support the sustainable development in LDCs.

The session will showcase experiences at the enterprise level and explore success stories on how to create the right environment to enable development benefits from e-commerce by governments and development partners. The panel of experts includes:
• Ms. Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director, ITC
• H.E. Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, The Gambia
• Mr. Torbjörn Fredriksson, Head, E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD
• Dr. Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
• Ms. Nawshin Khair, Managing Director Aranya Crafts Ltd., Bangladesh
• Ms. Tadhim Uwizeye, Founder and CEO of Olado, Rwanda

Moderated by: Mr. James Howe, Head Digital, Markets and Connectivity, ITC

This session is organized in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Digital technology, combined with skills, can help address the challenges faced by youth, including related to employment, and can become a huge catalyst of sustainable development. Digital innovations in areas such as education and finance, energy, agriculture, health, and mobility are already transforming how youth access and use a range of services. Through digital inclusion initiatives and the amplification of youth voices, digital technologies offer new opportunities to transform the lives of unconnected and marginalized youth.

Young people are leaders in digital transformation today. We must empower and acknowledge young voices in this space as we work towards engaging youth in the digital development dialogue to build a more connected global community. With initiatives like ITU’s Generation Connect and UNCDF’s Inclusive Digital Economies to Leave No One Behind, and ITC’s FastTrackTech, Youth and Trade and ecomConnect, this thematic session will explore the benefits of developing digital solutions to fully unlock youth’s potential.

Co-designed and led by youth, this session will explore pathways towards bridging the digital divide and fully seize youth potential towards the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action by addressing the following questions:
What are the major digital challenges facing young people in LDCs today?
What capacity building efforts and digital innovation ecosystems need to exist to address the digital skills gaps amongst young people today and in the future?
How can youth in LDCs be meaningfully included in international digital development dialogues and policies?

What are the solutions to fully bridge the digital divide and empower youth to become actors of change?

The session will showcase experiences at the enterprise level and explore success stories on how to create the right environment to enable development benefits from e-commerce by governments and development partners. The panel includes innovators from IBM, Thundafund Africa, Ennovate Hub Tanzania, as well as ITC and ITU.

This session is organized by ITC in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Growth and climate adaptation of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are held back due to challenges to access financing. Generally, less than 4% of these firms’ financing applications are successful. The main reasons are lack of collateral and accurate and complete documentation.

Financing is key to MSMEs’ ability to adapt to climate change, grow their businesses sustainably and contribute to graduation and wealth. This is particularly the case for companies involved in sectors of economies where inputs have to be purchased in advance of sales invoicing, such as food and agri-business.

ITC has developed an end-to-end access to financing approach for MSMEs that was tested successfully in Tanzania in 2022. It combines de-risking guarantees from development financing institutions (DFIs) and Tanzania’s PASS Trust with coaching in financial management, document assembly and loan performance to overcome the challenges. This has led to over 70% of applicants receiving loans within a short period and follow-on investment in some cases for ESG and climate adaptation purposes.

Join us for a look at this successful pilot project and wider take-aways for access to financing in LDCs.

• Mr. Ashish Shah, Director of Country Programmes, ITC
• H.E. Mr. Elias Mubanga, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development of Zambia
• Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Executive Director, AGRA
• Mr. Joseph Midunga, Founder and CEO, Tanzania Association of Professional Business Development Services (TAPBDS)
• Mr. Robert Lawuo, Business Development Manager, Private Agricultural Sector Support Trust (PASS)

Moderated by: Mr. Ian Sayers, Senior Adviser, Access to financing & investment, ITC