The African Development Bank Group has concluded a two-day stakeholder consultative workshop aimed at refining the design of its YouthADAPT programme for a new phase, shifting its focus towards sustainable financing models for youth-led climate adaptation enterprises across Africa.
Held on 24-25 February 2026, the workshop gathered business leaders, policymakers, and development partners to review lessons from the first three cycles of YouthADAPT (2021-2025) and explore options for its fourth cycle. Discussions identified a critical need to evolve beyond standalone grant funding. Participants emphasized strengthening post-award support, improving market and investor linkages, and building a more sustainable financing architecture for early-stage climate businesses.
YouthADAPT is a flagship initiative of the African Development Bank, funded by the Youth Entrepreneurship Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF) and the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF). It supports youth-owned enterprises developing innovative climate adaptation solutions. In its first three cycles, the programme provided support to 39 enterprises in 20 African countries, helping generate approximately 11,000 direct and indirect jobs. Notably, 63 percent of supported businesses were women-owned, highlighting the programme’s role in promoting inclusive green entrepreneurship.
Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, Manager for Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank Group, opened the workshop by linking youth innovation to continental climate resilience. “Africa is the world’s youngest continent, yet it is also the most climate-vulnerable. Innovation is the bridge between these two realities,” Dorsouma stated. He noted that young Africans are deploying solutions in water security, food systems, energy access, and the circular economy that can be scaled rapidly for greater impact.
Edith Ofwona Adera, YouthADAPT Coordinator, said the programme had reached a pivotal point for evolution, stressing the importance of using accumulated lessons to build a more resilient framework that empowers young innovators to expand their efforts.
A key theme was partnership. Mary Kashangiki, Manager for Early-Stage Finance at Financial Sector Deepening Africa, noted the consultation would help integrate YouthADAPT’s lessons into broader continental efforts to strengthen climate innovation financing.
Participants agreed that the fourth cycle must place entrepreneurs at the centre of design, directly addressing their financing, capacity-building, and market-access needs. They stressed that enterprise growth depends on a stronger ecosystem, including earlier investor engagement, enhanced venture-builder support, and clearer pathways from catalytic grants to follow-on finance.
The workshop revisited a pre-event survey that identified risks such as weak transitions to private finance post-programme, designs misaligned with local markets, and overreliance on single delivery partners. A recurring recommendation was establishing a clearer capital transition pathway. This could blend catalytic grants with milestone-linked tranches, returnable instruments where feasible, and investor advisory services to de-risk subsequent financing, aiming to reduce long-term grant dependency while keeping terms appropriate for early-stage ventures.
The workshop concluded with agreement on next steps: consolidating findings into a design-ready package, conducting targeted follow-up consultations, and collaborating with implementation partners to shape a scalable, partnership-driven, and outcomes-focused delivery model for YouthADAPT’s fourth cycle. The process underscores the Bank’s commitment to leveraging youth-led innovation as a core strategy for building climate resilience in Africa.
