A regional webinar is scheduled today, 26 June 2026, to bring together young agrifood entrepreneurs, cross-border traders, policymakers, and development stakeholders to discuss ways to strengthen youth participation in trade and agrifood market opportunities across East and Southern Africa. The session is organized by AGRA, SADC, EAC, and SAYoF, under the theme: “Empowering Young Agrifood Entrepreneurs through Regional Trade Integration and Cross-Border Market Opportunities.”
Agrifood systems remain a critical pillar of economic growth, employment creation, food security, and livelihoods across East and Southern Africa. The sector supports livelihoods for millions of young people who work as producers, processors, traders, service providers, innovators, and entrepreneurs across agricultural value chains. With continued regional economic integration through bodies such as the EAC, COMESA, and SADC, and broader regional trade frameworks that encourage intra-African commerce, young agrifood businesses are increasingly positioned to benefit from market integration and trade liberalization.
Regional trade initiatives such as the AfCFTA and Simplified Trade Regimes (STRs) are also expected to improve opportunities for small-scale traders and youth-led enterprises to access regional markets more efficiently. Despite these prospects, youth participation in cross-border agrifood trade remains constrained by barriers including limited access to trade information, non-tariff barriers (NTBs), complex customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, inadequate financing, weak market linkages, and limited awareness of available trade facilitation mechanisms. These constraints tend to impact young entrepreneurs, women, and informal traders particularly strongly.
At the same time, digital innovations, expanding regional value chains, e-commerce platforms, and ongoing trade facilitation reforms have created new opportunities for young agrifood entrepreneurs to access markets beyond their national borders. Strengthening youth engagement in regional trade is therefore essential to support inclusive economic growth, create employment, enhance food security, and accelerate transformation across agrifood systems.
The programme will feature a structured set of sessions and speakers. The session will begin with Welcome led by Kudakwashe Watetepa, Programme Delivery Officer at the SADC Secretariat, followed by Opening Remarks from AGRA Isaac Gokah and Barbra Mbabazi and Remarks from Prisca Mbaga EAC Tripartite Chair of Taskforce, after which Keynote Presentation 1 delivered focusing on Regional Trade Integration and Opportunities for Youth in Agrifood Systems. Keynote Presentation will follow with Mr Rangarirai Machemedze, TSTR Project Coordinator, addressing Trade Facilitation, STRs, and Market Access for Youth-Led Enterprises. Youth voices will also be featured through testimonials from East African and Southern African youth entrepreneurs. The programme will then move into an Interactive Panel Discussion on unlocking regional markets for young agrifood entrepreneurs, moderated by the panel moderator and supported by participating panelists. Participants will later engage in a Questions and Answers session, followed by a Summary of Key Recommendations and Way Forward presented by SAYoF Chief Executive Officer Misheck Gondo, and finally Closing Remarks by the Organizing Partners.
