African leaders call for youth-led innovation and ICT tax reform

Policymakers and experts at the 2026 African Union Innovation Festival in Addis Ababa have called for a youth-centered approach to develop sustainable digital ecosystems across Africa. Leaders emphasized that capitalizing on the continent’s youthful demographic is essential for innovation, though they noted significant barriers such as limited access to finance, infrastructure gaps, regulatory constraints, and uneven connectivity.

In a related effort to support digital growth, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has advocated for optimized ICT taxation models. During a recent workshop, the ECA suggested that taxation in the information and communications technology sector should focus on long-term economic growth and job creation rather than short-term fiscal returns. The goal is to make digital services more affordable and encourage investment to bridge the gap between infrastructure availability and actual service usage.